The  Great  Events  by 
Famous  Historians 


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Famous   Historians 


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BINDING 
Vol.  I 

The  binding  of  this  volume  is  a  facsimile  of  the  original  on 
exhibition  in  the  British  Museum. 

It  was  executed  by  Eve,  for  Jacques  Auguste  de  Thou,  the 
celebrated  historian  and  collector,  and  Keeper  of  the  Royal  Library 
under  Henry  IV.  He  had  a  most  magnificent  collection,  con- 
sisting of  over  a  thousand  manuscripts  and  about  eight  thousand 
printed  volumes. 

The  unrivalled  specimen  reproduced  in  the  binding  of  Volume  I 
of  THE  GREAT  EVENTS  BY  FAMOUS  HISTORIANS  was  presented  to 
him  by  Eve,  the  Royal  Binder,  in  appreciation  of  his  liberal  pat- 
ronage. 

De  Thou's  literary  treasures  were  left  in  perpetuity  to  his 
family.  Some  of  the  manuscripts  were  acquired  for  the  Koyal 
Library.  Part  of  the  collection,  including  the  present  specimen, 
was  purchased  by  Cardinal  de  Pvohan,  who  paid  40,000  livres 
for  it.  He  bequeathed  it  to  his  nephew.  Prince  De  Soubise,  who, 
in  consequence  of  heavy  losses,  had  it  sold  at  a  public  auction 
which  was  attended  by  lovers  of  art  and  letters  from  every 
country  of  Europe.  Many  of  De  Thou's  books  are  now  owned 
by  wealthy  American  bibliophiles. 


40657O 


THE  GREAT 


nx  with  Great  and  Second 
Pyramids  OT  Guieh 

From  an  original  photogripr.. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS 


BY 


FAMOUS  HISTORIANS 


A  COMPREHENSIVE   AND   READABLE   ACCOUNT  OF  THE  WORLD'S 
HISTORY,  EMPHASIZING  THE  MORE  IMPORTANT  EVENTS,  AND  PRE- 
SENTING THESE  AS  COMPLETE  NARRATIVES  IN  THE  MASTER- WORDS 
OF  THE  MOST  EMINENT  HISTORIANS 

NON-SECTARIAN  NON-PARTISAN  NON-SECTIONAL 

ON  THE  PLAN  EVOLVED  FROM  A  CONSENSUS  OF  OPINIONS  GATH- 
ERED FROM  THE  MOST  DISTINGUISHED  SCHOLARS  OF  AMERICA 
AND  EUROPE,  INCLUDING  BRIEF  INTRODUCTIONS  BY  SPECIALISTS 
TO  CONNECT  AND  EXPLAIN  THE  CELEBRATED  NARRATIVES.  AR- 
RANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY,  WITH  THOROUGH  INDICES,  BIBLIOG- 
RAPHIES, CHRONOLOGIES.  AND  COURSES  OF  READING 

SUPERVISING  EDITOR 

ROSSITER    JOHNSON,    LL.D. 

LITERARY  EDITORS 

CHARLES  F.  HORNE,  Ph.D. 
JOHN  RUDD,  LL.D. 

DIRECTING  EDITOR 

WALTER    F.    AUSTIN,    LL.M. 

With  a  staff  of  specialists 
VOLUME  I 


€l)e  Rational  Alumni 


COPYRIGHT,    1905 

BY  THE  NATIONAL  ALUMNI 


COPYRIGHT,    1919 

BY  THE  NATIONAL  ALUMNI 


CONTENTS 
VOLUME  I 

PAGE 

General  Introduction, ix 

An  Outline  Narrative  of  the  Great  Events,     .         .        .       xxi 

CHARLES  F.  HORNE 

Dawn  of  Civilization  (B.C.  $86?},  .  I 

G.  C.  C.  MASPERO 

Compilation  of  the  Earliest  Code  (B.C.  2250),  .  .14 

HAMMURABI 

Theseus  Founds  Athens  (B.C.  1235),  *        .        45 

PLUTARCH 

The  Formation  of  the  Castes  in  India  (B.C.  I2OO)y  .         .        52 

GUSTAVE  LE  BON 
W.  W.  HUNTER 

Fall  of  Troy  (B.C.  1184),  ...  ...        7° 

GEORGE  GROTE 

Accession  of  Solomon 

Building  of  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  (B.C.  IOIf),  92 

HENRY  HART   MILMAN 

Rise  and  Fall  of  Assyria 

Destruction  of  Nineveh  (B.C.  j8q), 105 

F.  LENORMANT  AND  E.  CHEVALLIER 

The  Foundation  of  Rome  (B.C.  J 53),        .        .  .116 

BARTHOLD  GEORG  NIEBUHR 

Prince  Jimmu  Founds  Japans  Capital  (B.C.  660),  .         .140 

SIR  EDWARD  REED 

THE  "NEHONGI" 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 


The  Foundation  of  Buddhism  (B.C.  623),        .        .  160 

THOMAS    W.   RHYS-DAVIDS 

Pythian  Games  at  Delphi  (B.C.  $8 $),      .  .       181 

GEORGE  GROTE 

Soton's  Early  Greek  Legislation  (B.C.  594),    .         .        .       203 

GEORGE  GROTE 

Conquests  of  Cyrus  the  Great  (B.C.  550),         .        .        .250 

GEORGE  GROTE 

Rise  of  Confucius,  the  Chinese  Sage  (B.C.  550),       .        .       270 

R.  K.  DOUGLAS 

Rome  Established  as  a  Republic 

Institution  of  Tribunes  (B.C.  510-494),  .        .      300 

HENRY  GEORGE  LIDDELL 

The  Battle  of  Marathon  (B.C.  490),        .  .      322 

SIR  EDWARD  SHEPHERD  CREASY 

Invasion  of  Greece  by  Persians  under  Xerxes 

Defence  of  Thermopylae  (B.C.  480}, 354 

HERODOTUS 

Universal  Chronology  (B.C.  5867-451),    ....      373 

JOHN    RUDD 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOLUME  I 

PAGE 

Sphinx,    with   Great  and  Second  Pyramids  of  Gizeh 

(page  12),        ...  .  Frontispiece 

From  an  original  photograph. 

The  Rosetta  Stone,  and  Description,        ....           I 
Facsimile  of  original  in  the  British  Museum. 

The  Sabine  Women — now  mothers — suing  for  peace  be- 
tween the  combatants  (their  Roman  husbands  and 
their  Sabine  relations),     .        .         .        .         .        .125 

Painting  by  Jacques  L.  David. 

Leonidas  and  his  three  hundred  immortal  Spartans  pre- 
paring for  the  defence  of  Thermopylce  against  the 
Persian  hosts,  ....  .  356 

Painting  by  Jacques  L.  David. 


THE    GREAT    EVENTS 

BY 

FAMOUS    HISTORIANS 


General   Introduction 


HE  GREAT  EVENTS  BY  FAMOUS  HISTORIANS 
is  the  answer  to  a  problem  which  has  long 
been  agitating  the  learned  world.  How 
shall  real  history,  the  ablest  and  profound- 
est  work  of  the  greatest  historians,  be  res- 
cued from  its  present  oblivion  on  the  dusty 
shelves  of  scholars,  and  made  welcome  to  the  homes  of  the 
people  ? 

THE  NATIONAL  ALUMNI,  an  association  of  college  men, 
having  given  this  question  long  and  earnest  discussion  among 
themselves,  sought  finally  the  views  of  a  carefully  elaborated 
list  of  authorities  throughout  America  and  Europe.  They 
consulted  the  foremost  living  historians  and  professors  of 
history,  successful  writers  in  other  fields,  statesmen,  university 
and  college  presidents,  and  prominent  business  men.  From 
this  widely  gathered  consensus  of  opinions,  after  much  com- 
parison and  sifting  of  ideas,  was  evolved  the  following  practical, 
and  it  would  seem  incontrovertible,  series  of  plain  facts.  And 
these  all  pointed  toward  "  THE  GREAT  EVENTS." 

In  the  first  place,  the  entire  American  public,  from  top  to 
bottom  of  the  social  ladder,  are  at  this  moment  anxious  to  read 
history.  Its  predominant  importance  among  the  varied  forms 
of  literature  is  fully  recognized.  To  understand  the  past  is  to 
understand  the  future.  The  successful  men  in  every  line  of 
life  are  those  who  look  ahead,  whose  keen  foresight  enables 


x  GENERAL   INTRODUCTION 

them  to  probe  into  the  future,  not  by  magic,  but  by  patiently 
acquired  knowledge.  To  see  clearly  what  the  world  has  done, 
and  why,  is  to  see  at  least  vaguely  what  the  world  will  do,  and 
when. 

Moreover,  no  man  can  understand  himself  unless  he  under- 
stands others ;  and  he  cannot  do  that  without  some  idea  of  the 
past,  which  has  produced  both  him  and  them.  To  know  his 
neighbors,  he  must  know  something  of  the  country  from  which 
they  came,  the  conditions  under  which  they  formerly  lived.  He 
cannot  do  his  own  simple  duty  by  his  own  country  if  he  does 
not  know  through  what  tribulations  that  country  has  passed. 
He  cannot  be  a  good  citizen,  he  cannot  even  vote  honestly, 
much  less  intelligently,  unless  he  has  read  history.  Fortu- 
nately the  point  needs  little  urging.  It  is  almost  an  imperti- 
nence to  refer  to  it.  We  are  all  anxious,  more  than  anxious  to 
learn — if  only  the  path  of  study  be  made  easy. 

Can  this  be  accomplished  ?  Can  the  vanishing  pictures  of  the 
past  be  made  as  simply  obvious  as  mathematics,  as  fascinating  as 
a  breezy  novel  of  adventure  ?  Genius  has  already  answered,  yes. 
Hand  to  a  mere  boy  Macaulay's  sketch  of  Warren  Hastings  in 
India,  and  the  lad  will  see  as  easily  as  if  laid  out  upon  a  map 
the  host  of  interwoven  and  elaborate  problems  that  perplexed 
the  great  administrator.  Offer  to  the  youngest  lass  the  tale 
told  by  Guizot  of  King  Robert  of  France  and  his  struggle  to 
retain  his  beloved  wife  Bertha.  Its  vivid  reality  will  draw  from 
the  girl's  heart  far  deeper  and  truer  tears  than  the  most  pa- 
thetic romance. 

We  begin  to  realize  that  in  very  truth  History  has  been  one 
vast  stupendous  drama,  world-embracing  in  its  splendor,  ma- 
jestic, awful,  irresistible  in  the  insistence  of  its  pointing  ringer 
of  fate.  It  has  indeed  its  comic  interludes,  a  Prussian  king 
befuddling  ambassadors  in  his  "Tobacco  Parliament";  its 
pauses  of  intense  and  cumulative  suspense,  Queen  Louise 
pleading  to  Napoleon  for  her  country's  life ;  but  it  has  also  its 
magnificent  pageants,  its  gorgeous  culminating  spectacles  of 
wonder.  Kings  and  emperors  are  but  the  supernumeraries 
upon  its  boards ;  its  hero  is  the  common  man,  its  plot  his  tri- 
umph over  ignorance,  his  struggle  upward  out  of  the  slime  of 
earth. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  xi 

Yet  the  great  historians  are  not  being  widely  read.  The 
ablest  and  most  convincing  stories  of  his  own  development 
seem  closed  against  the  ordinary  man.  Why  ?  In  the  first 
place,  the  works  of  the  masters  are  too  voluminous.  Grote's 
unrivalled  history  of  Greece  fills  ten  large  and  forbidding  vol- 
umes. Guizot  takes  thirty-one  to  tell  a  portion  of  the  story  of 
France.  Freeman  won  credit  in  the  professorial  world  by 
devoting  five  to  the  detailing  of  a  single  episode,  the  Norman 
Conquest.  Surely  no  busy  man  can  gather  a  general  historic 
knowledge,  if  he  must  read  such  works  as  these !  We  are  told 
that  the  great  library  of  Paris  contains  over  four  hundred  thou- 
sand volumes  and  pamphlets  on  French  history  alone.  The 
output  of  historic  works  in  all  languages  approaches  ten  thou- 
sand volumes  every  year.  No  scholar,  even,  can  peruse  more 
than  the  smallest  fraction  of  this  enormously  increasing  mass. 
Herodotus  is  forgotten,  Livy  remains  to  most  of  us  but  a  rec- 
ollection of  our  school-days,  and  Thucydides  has  become  an  ex- 
ercise in  Greek. 

There  is  yet  another  difficulty.  Even  the  honest  man  who 
tries,  who  takes  down  his  Grote  or  Freeman,  heroically  resolved 
to  struggle  through  it  at  all  speed,  fails  often  in  his  purpose. 
He  discovers  that  the  greatest  masters  nod.  Sometimes  in 
their  slow  advance  they  come  upon  a  point  that  rouses  their 
enthusiasm ;  they  become  vigorous,  passionate,  sarcastic,  fasci- 
nating, they  are  masters  indeed.  But  the  fire  soon  dies,  the  in- 
spiration flags,  "  no  man  can  be  always  on  the  heights,"  and 
the  unhappy  reader  drowses  in  the  company  of  his  guide. 

This  leads  us  then  to  one  clear  point.  From  these  justly 
famous  works  a  selection  should  be  made.  Their  length  should 
be  avoided,  their  prosy  passages  eliminated ;  the  one  picture,  or 
perhaps  the  many  pictures,  which  each  master  has  painted  bet- 
ter than  any  rival  before  or  since,  that  and  that  alone  should 
be  preserved. 

Read  in  this  way,  history  may  be  sought  with  genuine  pleas- 
ure. It  is  only  pedantry  has  made  it  dreary,  only  blindness  has 
left  it  dull.  The  story  of  man  is  the  most  wonderful  ever  con- 
ceived. It  can  be  made  the  most  fascinating  ever  written. 

With  this  idea  firmly  established  in  mind,  we  seek  another 
line  of  thought.  The  world  grows  smaller  every  day.  Russia 


xii  GENERAL   INTRODUCTION 

fights  huge  battles  five  thousand  miles  from  her  capital.  Eng- 
land governs  India.  Spain  and  the  United  States  contend  for 
empire  in  the  antipodes.  Our  rapidly  improving  means  of  com- 
munication, electric  trains,  and,  it  may  be,  flying  machines,  ca- 
bles, and  wireless  telegraphy,  link  lands  so  close  together  that 
no  man  lives  to-day  the  subject  of  an  isolated  state.  Rather, 
indeed,  do  all  the  kingdoms  seem  to  shrink,  to  become  but  dis- 
tricts in  one  world-including  commonwealth. 

To  tell  the  story  of  one  nation  by  itself  is  thus  no  longer 
possible.  Great  movements  of  the  human  race  do  not  stop  for 
imaginary  boundary  lines  thrown  across  a  map.  It  was  not 
the  German  students,  nor  the  Parisian  mob,  nor  the  Italian 
peasants  who  rebelled  in  1848;  it  was  the  "people  of  Europe" 
who  arose  against  their  oppressors.  To  read  the  history  of 
one's  own  country  only  is  to  get  distorted  views,  to  exaggerate 
our  own  importance,  to  remain  often  in  densest  ignorance  of 
the  real  meaning  of  what  we  read.  The  ideas  American  school- 
boys get  of  the  Revolution  are  in  many  cases  simply  absurd, 
until  they  have  been  modified  by  wider  reading. 

From  this  it  becomes  very  evident  that  a  good  history  now 
must  be,  not  a  local,  but  a  world  history.  The  idea  of  such  a 
work  is  not  new.  Diodorus  penned  one  two  hundred  years 
before  Christ.  But  even  then  the  tale  took  forty  books ;  and 
we  have  been  making  history  rather  rapidly  since  Diodorus' 
time.  Of  the  many  who  have  more  recently  attempted  his 
task,  few  have  improved  upon  his  methods ;  and  the  best  of 
these  works  only  shows  upon  a  larger  scale  the  same  dreari- 
ness that  we  have  found  in  other  masters. 

Let  us  then  be  frank  and  admit  that  no  one  man  can  make 
a  thoroughly  good  world  history.  No  one  man  could  be  pos- 
sessed of  the  almost  infinite  learning  required;  none  could 
have  the  infinite  enthusiasm  to  delight  equally  in  each  separate 
event,  to  dwell  on  all  impartially  and  yet  ecstatically.  So  once 
more  we  are  forced  back  upon  the  same  conclusion.  We  will 
take  what  we  already  have.  We  will  appeal  to  each  master  for 
the  event  in  which  he  did  delight,  the  one  in  which  we  find 
him  at  his  best. 

This  also  has  been  attempted  before,  but  perhaps  in  a  man- 
ner too  lengthy,  too  exact,  too  pedantic  to  be  popular.  The 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION  xiii 

aim  has  been  to  get  in  everything.  Everything  great  or  small 
has  been  narrated,  and  so  the  real  points  of  value  have  been 
lost  in  the  multiplicity  of  lesser  facts,  about  which  no  ordinary 
reader  cares  or  needs  to  care.  After  all,  what  we  want  to 
know  and  remember  are  the  Great  Events,  the  ones  which 
nave  really  changed  and  influenced  humanity.  How  many  of 
us  do  really  know  about  them  ?  or  even  know  what  they  are  ? 
or  one-twentieth  part  of  them  ?  And  until  we  know,  is  it  not 
a  waste  of  time  to  pore  over  the  lesser  happenings  between  ? 

Yet  the  connection  between  these  events  must  somehow 
be  shown.  They  must  not  stand  as  separate,  unrelated  frag- 
ments. If  the  story  of  the  world  is  indeed  one,  it  must  be 
shown  as  one,  not  even  broken  by  arbitrary  division  into  coun- 
tries, those  temporary  political  constructions,  often  separating 
a  single  race,  lines  of  imaginary  demarcation,  varying  with  the 
centuries,  invisible  in  earth's  yesterday,  sure  to  change  if  not 
to  perish  in  her  to-morrow.  Moreover,  such  a  system  of  di- 
vision necessitates  endless  repetition.  Each  really  important 
occurrence  influences  many  countries,  and  so  is  told  of  again 
and  again  with  monotonous  iteration  and  extravagant  waste  of 
space. 

It  may,  however,  be  fairly  urged  that  the  story  should  vary 
according  to  the  country  for  which  it  is  designed.  To  our  in- 
dividual lives  the  events  happening  nearest  prove  most  impor- 
tant. Great  though  others  be,  their  influence  diminishes  with 
their  increasing  distance  in  space  and  time.  For  the  people  of 
North  America  the  story  of  the  world  should  have  the  part 
taken  by  America  written  large  across  the  pages. 

From  all  these  lines  of  reasoning  arose  the  present  work, 
which  the  National  Alumni  believe  has  solved  the  problem.  It 
tells  the  story  of  the  world,  tells  it  in  the  most  famous  words  of 
the  most  famous  writers,  makes  of  it  a  single,  continued  story, 
giving  the  results  of  the  most  recent  research.  Yet  all  dry 
detail  has  been  deliberately  eliminated ;  the  tale  runs  rapidly 
and  brightly.  Whatever  else  may  happen,  the  reader  shall  not 
yawn.  Only  important  points  are  dwelt  on,  and  their  relative 
value  is  made  clear. 

Each  volume  of  THE  GREAT  EVENTS  opens  with  a  brief 
survey  of  the  period  with  which  it  deals.  The  broad  world 


xiv  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

uiovements  of  the  time  are  pointed  out,  their  importance  is  em- 
phasized, their  mutual  relationship  made  clear.  If  the  reader 
finds  his  interest  specially  roused  in  one  of  these  events,  and  he 
would  learn  more  of  it,  he  is  aided  by  a  directing  note,  which, 
in  each  case,  tells  him  where  in  the  body  of  the  volume  the  sub- 
ject is  further  treated.  Turning  thither  he  may  plunge  at  once 
into  the  fuller  account  which  he  desires,  sure  that  it  will  be  both 
vivid  and  authoritative ;  in  short,  the  best-known  treatment  of 
the  subject. 

Meanwhile  the  general  survey,  being  thus  relieved  from  the 
necessity  of  constant  explanation,  expansion,  and  digression, 
is  enabled  to  flow  straight  onward  with  its  story,  rapidly,  sim- 
ply, entertainingly.  Indeed,  these  opening  sketches,  written  es- 
pecially for  this  series,  and  in  a  popular  style,  may  be  read  on 
from  volume  to  volume,  forming  a  book  in  themselves,  present- 
ing a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  whole  course  of  earth,  an  ideal 
world  history  which  leaves  the  details  to  be  filled  in  by  the 
reader  at  his  pleasure.  It  is  thus,  we  believe,  and  thus  only, 
that  world  history  can  be  made  plain  and  popular.  The  great 
lessons  of  history  can  thus  be  clearly  grasped.  And  by  their 
light  all  life  takes  on  a  deeper  meaning. 

The  body  of  each  volume,  then,  contains  the  Great  Events 
of  the  period,  ranged  in  chronological  order.  Of  each  event 
there  are  given  one,  perhaps  two,  or  even  three  complete  ac- 
counts, not  chosen  hap-hazard,  but  selected  after  conference 
with  many  scholars,  accounts  the  most  accurate  and  most  cele- 
brated in  existence,  gathered  from  all  languages  and  all  times. 
Where  the  event  itself  is  under  dispute,  the  editors  do  not  pre- 
sume to  judge  for  the  reader ;  they  present  the  authorities  upon 
both  sides.  The  Reformation  is  thus  portrayed  from  the  Cath- 
olic as  well  as  the  Protestant  standpoint.  The  American  Rev- 
olution is  shown  in  part  as  England  saw  it ;  and  in  the  Ameri- 
can Civil  War,  and  the  causes  which  produced  it,  the  North 
and  the  South  speak  for  themselves  in  the  words  of  their  best 
historians. 

To  each  of  these  accounts  is  prefixed  a  brief  introduction, 
prepared  for  this  work  by  a  specialist  in  the  field  of  history  of 
which  it  treats.  This  introduction  serves  a  double  purpose. 
In  the  first  place,  it  explains  whatever  is  necessary  for  the  un- 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  xv 

derstanding  and  appreciation  of  the  story  that  follows.  Un^ 
fortunately,  many  a  striking  bit  of  historic  writing  has  become 
antiquated  in  the  present  day.  Scholars  have  discovered  that 
it  blunders  here  and  there,  perhaps  is  prejudiced,  perhaps  ex- 
travagant. Newer  writers,  therefore,  base  a  new  book  upon 
the  old  one,  not  changing  much,  but  paraphrasing  it  into  deadly 
dulness  by  their  efforts  after  accuracy.  Thanks  to  our  intro- 
duction we  can  revive  the  more  spirited  account,  and,  while 
pointing  out  its  value  to  the  reader,  can  warn  him  of  its  errors. 
Thus  he  secures  in  briefest  form  the  results  of  the  most  recent 
research. 

Another  purpose  of  the  introduction  is  to  link  each  event 
with  the  preceding  ones  in  whatever  countries  it  affects.  Thus 
if  one  chooses  he  may  read  by  countries  after  all,  and  get  a 
completed  story  of  a  single  nation.  That  is,  he  may  peruse  the 
account  of  the  battle  of  Hastings  and  then  turn  onward  to  the 
making  of  the  Domesday  Book,  where  he  will  find  a  few  brief 
lines  to  cover  the  intervening  space  in  England's  history.  From 
the  struggles  of  Stephen  and  Matilda  he  is  led  to  the  quarrel 
of  her  son,  King  Henry,  with  Thomas  Becket,  and  so  onward 
step  by  step. 

Starting  with  this  ground  plan  of  the  design  in  mind,  the 
reader  will  see  that  its  compilation  was  a  work  of  enormous 
labor.  This  has  been  undertaken  seriously,  patiently,  and  with 
earnest  purpose.  The  first  problem  to  be  confronted  was, 
What  were  the  Great  Events  that  should  be  told  ?  Almost 
every  writer  and  teacher  of  history,  every  well-known  author- 
ity, was  appealed  to ;  many  lists  of  events  were  compiled,  re- 
vised, collated,  and  compared ;  and  so  at  last  our  final  list  was 
evolved,  fitted  to  bear  the  brunt  of  every  criticism. 

Then  came  the  heavier  problem  of  what  authorities  to  quote 
for  each  event.  And  here  also  the  editors  owe  much  to  the 
capable  aid  of  many  generous,  unremunerated  advisers.  Thus, 
for  instance,  they  sought  and  obtained  from  the  Hon.  Joseph 
Chamberlain  his  advice  as  to  the  authorities  to  be  used  for  the 
Jameson  raid  and  the  Boer  war.  The  account  presented  may 
therefore  be  fairly  regarded  as  England's  own  authoritative 
presentment  of  those  events.  Several  little  known  and  wholly 
unused  Russian  sources  were  pointed  out  by  Professor  Ram- 


xvi  GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 

baud,  the  French  Academician.  But  this  is  mentioned  only  to 
illustrate  the  impartiality  with  which  the  editors  have  endeav- 
ored to  cover  all  fields.  If,  under  the  plea  of  expressing  gratitude 
to  all  those  who  have  lent  us  courteous  assistance,  we  were  to 
spread  across  these  pages  the  long  roll  of  their  distinguished 
names,  it  would  sound  too  much  like  boasting  of  their  conde- 
scension. 

The  work  of  selecting  the  accounts  has  been  one  of  time 
and  careful  thought.  Many  thousands  of  books  have  been  read 
and  read  again.  The  cardinal  points  of  consideration  in  the 
choice  have  been:  (i)  Interest,  that  is,  vividness  of  narration; 
(2)  simplicity,  for  we  aim  to  reach  the  people,  to  make  a  book 
fit  even  for  a  child ;  (3)  the  fame  of  the  author,  for  everyone 
is  pleased  to  be  thus  easily  introduced  to  some  long-heard-of 
celebrity,  distantly  revered,  but  dreaded ;  and  (4)  accuracy,  a 
point  set  last  because  its  defects  could  be  so  easily  remedied 
by  the  specialist's  introduction  to  each  event. 

These  considerations  have  led  occasionally  to  the  selection 
of  very  ancient  documents,  the  original  "  sources  "  of  history 
themselves,  as,  for  instance,  Columbus'  own  story  of  his  voy- 
age, rather  than  any  later  account  built  up  on  this;  Pliny's 
picture  of  the  destruction  of  Pompeii,  for  Pliny  was  there  and 
saw  the  heavens  rain  down  fire,  and  told  of  it  as  no  man  has 
done  since.  So,  too,  we  give  a  literal  translation  of  the  earliest 
known  code  of  laws,  antedating  those  of  Moses  by  more  than 
a  thousand  years,  rather  than  some  modern  commentary  on 
them.  At  other  times  the  same  principles  have  led  to  the 
other  extreme,  and  on  modern  events,  where  there  seemed  no 
wholly  satisfactory  or  standard  accounts,  we  have  had  them  writ- 
ten for  us  by  the  specialists  best  acquainted  with  the  field. 

As  the  work  thus  grew  in  hand,  it  became  manifest  that  it 
would  be,  in  truth,  far  more  than  a  mere  story  of  events. 
With  each  event  was  connected  the  man  who  embodied  it. 
Often  his  life  was  handled  quite  as  fully  as  the  event,  and  so 
we  had  biography.  Lands  had  to  be  described  —  geography. 
Peoples  and  customs  —  sociology.  Laws  and  the  arguments 
concerning  them  —  political  economy.  In  short,  our  history 
proved  a  universal  cyclopaedia  as  well. 

To  give  it  its  full  value,  therefore,  an  index  became  obvi- 


GENERAL   INTRODUCTION  xvii 

ously  necessary — and  no  ordinary  index.  Its  aim  must  be  to 
anticipate  every  possible  question  with  which  a  reader  might 
approach  the  past,  and  direct  him  to  the  answer.  Even,  it 
might  be,  he  would  want  details  more  elaborate  than  we  give. 
If  so,  we  must  direct  him  where  to  find  them. 

Professional  index-makers  were  therefore  summoned  to  our 
help,  a  complete  and  readable  chronology  was  appended  to 
each  volume,  and  the  final  volume  of  the  series  was  turned 
over  to  the  indexers  entirely.  We  believe  their  work  will  prove 
not  the  least  valuable  feature  of  the  whole.  Briefly,  the 
Index  Volume  contains: 

1.  A  complete  list  of  the  Great  Events  of  the  world's 
history.     Opposite  each  event  are  given  the  date,  the  name  of 
the  author  and  standard  work  from  which  our  account  is  se- 
lected, and  a  number  of  references  to  other  works  and  to  a 
short  discussion  of  these  in  our  Bibliography.     Thus  the  reader 
may  pursue  an  extended  course  of  study  on  each  particular 
event. 

2.  A  bibliography  of  the  best  general  histories  of  ancient, 
mediaeval,  and  modern  times,  and  of  important  political,  relig- 
ious, and  educational  movements;  also  a  bibliography  of  the 
best  historical  works  dealing  with  each  nation,  and  arranged 
under  the  following  subdivisions:  (a)  The  general  history  of 
the  nation;  (7>)  special  periods  in  its  career;  (c)  the  descrip- 
tions of  the  people,  their  civilization  and  institutions.  On  each 
work  thus  mentioned  there  is  a  critical  comment  with  sugges- 
tions to  readers.     This  bibliography  is  designed  chiefly  for 
those  who  desire  to  pursue  more  extended  courses  of  reading, 
and  it  offers  them  the  experience  and  guidance  of  those  who 
have  preceded  them  on  their  special  field. 

3.  A  general  index  covering  every  reference  in  the  series 
to  dates,  events,  persons,  and  places  of  historic  importance. 
These  are  made  easily  accessible  by  a  careful  and  elaborate 
system  of  cross-references. 

4.  A  biographical  dictionary  incorporated  in  the  general 
index.     As  each  noted  person  is  listed  in  the  general  index, 
the  dates  and  main  facts  of  his  life  are  briefly  stated.     This 
outline  is  followed  by  references  to  all  the  noted  events  in  the 
hero's   career   as  described   throughout.    Thus   a   complete 


xviii  GENERAL   INTRODUCTION 

biography  of  any  famous  personage  may  be  read  by  merely 
following  the  references  given  under  his  name  in  the  general 
index. 

5.  A  list  of  the  famous  writings  of  great  men  on  important 
events.    This  also  is  incorporated  in  the  general  index.     Our 
volumes  contain  so  many  celebrated  documents  that  some  of 
them  might  easily  be  lost  to  the  casual  reader.     Hence  after 
each  great  leader's  name  we  insert  not  only  the  references  to 
his  deeds,  but  also  a  list  of  such  of  his  own  writings  describing 
great  events  as  we  have  included  in  our  volumes. 

6.  A  separate  and  complete  chronology  of  each  nation  of 
ancient,  mediaeval,  and  modern  times,  so  that  the  history  of 
any  one  nation  may  be  read  in  its  logical  order  and  in  the 
language  of  its  best  historians. 

Such,  as  the  National  Alumni  regard  it,  are  the  general 
character,  wide  scope,  and  earnest  purpose  of  THE  GREAT 
EVENTS  BY  FAMOUS  HISTORIANS.  Let  us  end  by  saying,  in 
the  friendly  fashion  of  the  old  days  when  bookmakers  and  their 
readers  were  more  ultimate  than  now:  "Kind  reader,  if  this 
our  performance  doth  in  aught  fall  short  of  promise,  blame  not 
our  good  intent,  but  our  unperfect  wit." 

THE  NATIONAL  ALUMNI. 


AN  OUTLINE  NARRATIVE 


TRACING  BRIEFLY  THE  CAUSES,  CONNECTIONS,  AND  CONSEQUENCES  OF 


THE     GREAT     EVENTS 


A  GENERAL  SURVEY  OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE 
HUMAN  RACE,  ITS  ADVANCE  IN  KNOWLEDGE 
AND  CIVILIZATION,  AND  THE  BROAD  WORLD- 
MOVEMENTS  WHICH  HAVE  SHAPED  ITS  DESTINY 


CHARLES    F.   HORNE,   Ph.D. 


CONTINUED  THROUGH  THE  SUCCESSIVE  VOLUMES 
AND     COVERING    THE     SUCCESSIVE    PERIODS     OF 

THE    GREAT    EVENTS    BY    FAMOUS    HISTORIANS 


AN   OUTLINE    NARRATIVE 

TRACING  BRIEFLY  THE  CAUSES,  CON- 
NECTIONS,  AND     CONSEQUENCES     OF 

THE     GREAT     EVENTS 

(FROM   THE  BEGINNING  TO  THE  OVERTHROW  OF  THE  PERSIANS) 
CHARLES   F.    HORNE 

LJISTORY,  if  we  define  it  as  the  mere  transcription  of  the 
written  records  of  former  generations,  can  go  no  farther 
back  than  the  time  such  records  were  first  made,  no  farther  than 
the  art  of  writing.  But  now  that  we  have  come  to  recognize 
the  great  earth  itself  as  a  story-book,  as  a  keeper  of  records 
buried  one  beneath  the  other,  confused  and  half  obliterated, 
yet  not  wholly  beyond  our  comprehension,  now  the  historian 
may  fairly  be  allowed  to  speak  of  a  far  earlier  day. 

For  unmeasured  and  immeasurable  centuries  man  lived  on 
earth  a  creature  so  little  removed  from  "  the  beasts  that  die," 
so  little  superior  to  them,  that  he  has  left  no  clearer  record 
tnan  they  of  his  presence  here.  From  the  dry  bones  of  an  ex- 
tinct mammoth  or  a  plesiosaur,  Cuvier  reconstructed  the  en- 
tire animal  and  described  its  habits  and  its  home.  So,  too, 
looking  on  an  ancient,  strange,  scarce  human  skull,  dug  from 
the  deeper  strata  beneath  our  feet,  anatomists  tell  us  that  the 
owner  was  a  man  indeed,  but  one  little  better  than  an  ape.  A 
few  aeons  later  this  creature  leaves  among  his  bones  chipped 
flints  that  narrow  to  a  point ;  and  the  archaeologist,  taking  up 
the  tale,  explains  that  man  has  become  tool-using,  he  has  be- 
come intelligent  beyond  all  the  other  animals  of  earth.  Phys- 
ically he  is  but  a  mite  amid  the  beast  monsters  that  surround 
him,  but  by  value  of  his  brain  he  conquers  them.  He  has  be- 
gun his  career  of  mastery. 

•a 


xxii  AN  OUTLINE  NARRATIVE  OF 

If  we  delve  amid  more  recent  strata,  we  find  the  flint  weap- 
ons have  become  bronze.  Their  owner  has  learned  to  handle 
a  ductile  metal,  to  draw  it  from  the  rocks  and  fuse  it  in  the  fire. 
Later  still  he  has  discovered  how  to  melt  the  harder  and  more 
useful  iron.  We  say  roughly,  therefore,  that  man  passed 
through  a  stone  age,  a  bronze  age,  and  then  an  iron  age. 

Somewhere,  perhaps  in  the  earliest  of  these,  he  began  to 
build  rude  houses.  In  the  next,  he  drew  pictures.  During 
the  latest,  his  pictures  grew  into  an  alphabet  of  signs,  his 
structures  developed  into  vast  and  enduring  piles  of  brick  or 
stone.  Buildings  and  inscriptions  became  his  relics,  more  like 
to  our  own,  more  fully  understandable,  giving  us  a  sense  of 
closer  kinship  with  his  race. 

SOURCES   OF    EARLY   KNOWLEDGE 

There  are  three  different  lines  along  which  we  have  suc- 
ceeded in  securing  some  knowledge  of  these  our  distant  ances- 
tors, three  telephones  from  the  past,  over  which  they  send  to 
us  confused  and  feeble  murmurings,  whose  fascination  makes 
only  more  maddening  the  vagueness  of  their  speech. 

First,  we  have  the  picture-writings,  whether  of  Central 
America,  of  Egypt,  of  Babylonia,  or  of  other  lands.  These  when 
translatable  bring  us  nearest  of  all  to  the  heart  of  the  great 
past.  It  is  the  mind,  the  thought,  the  spoken  word,  of  man 
that  is  most  intimately  he ;  not  his  face,  nor  his  figure,  nor  his 
clothes.  Unfortunately,  the  translation  of  these  writings  is  no 
easy  task.  Those  of  Central  America  are  still  an  unsolved  rid- 
dle. Those  of  Babylon  have  been  slowly  pieced  together  like 
a  puzzle,  a  puzzle  to  which  the  learned  world  has  given  its 
most  able  thought.  Yet  they  are  not  fully  understood.  In 
Egypt  we  have  had  the  luck  to  stumble  on  a  clew,  the  Rosetta 
Stone,  which  makes  the  ancient  writing  fairly  clear.1 

Where  this  mode  of  communication  fails,  we  turn  to  another 
which  carries  us  even  farther  into  the  past.  The  records  which 

1  See  page  i  for  an  engraving  and  account  of  this  famous  stone.  It 
was  found  over  a  century  ago  and  its  value  was  instantly  recognized,  but 
many  years  passed  before  its  secrets  were  deciphered.  It  contains  an  in- 
scription repeated  in  three  forms  of  writing :  the  early  Egyptian  of  the 
hieroglyphics,  a  later  Egyptian  (the  demotic),  and  Greek. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS  xxiii 

have  been  less  intentionally  preserved,  not  only  the  buildings 
themselves,  but  their  decorations,  the  personal  ornaments  of 
men,  idols,  coins,  every  imaginable  fragment,  chance  escaped 
from  the  maw  of  time,  has  its  own  story  for  our  reading.  In 
Egypt  we  have  found  deep-hidden,  secret  tombs,  and,  intruding 
on  their  many  centuries  of  silence,  have  reaped  rich  harvests 
of  knowledge  from  the  garnered  wealth.  In  Babylonia  the 
rank  vegetation  had  covered  whole  cities  underneath  green  hil- 
locks, and  preserved  them  till  our  modern  curiosity  delved  them 
out.  To-day,  he  who  wills,  may  walk  amid  the  halls  of  Sennach- 
erib, may  tread  the  streets  whence  Abraham  fled,  ay,  he  may 
gaze  upon  the  handiwork  of  men  who  lived  perhaps  as  far  be- 
fore Abraham  as  we  ourselves  do  after  him. 

Nor  are  our  means  of  penetrating  the  past  even  thus  ex- 
hausted. A  third  chain  yet  more  subtle  and  more  marvellous 
has  been  found  to  link  us  to  an  ancestry  immeasurably  remote. 
This  unbroken  chain  consists  of  the  words  from  our  own 
mouths.  We  speak  as  our  fathers  spoke ;  and  they  did  but  fol- 
low the  generations  before.  Occasional  pronunciations  have 
altered,  new  words  have  been  added,  and  old  ones  forgotten ; 
but  some  basal  sounds  of  names,  some  root-thoughts  of  the 
heart,  have  proved  as  immutable  as  the  superficial  elegancies 
are  changeful.  "  Father  "  and  "  mother  "  mean  what  they  have 
meant  for  uncounted  ages. 

Comparative  philology,  the  science  which  compares  one  lan- 
guage with  another  to  note  the  points  of  similarity  between 
them,  has  discovered  that  many  of  these  root-sounds  are  alike 
in  almost  all  the  varied  tongues  of  Europe.  The  resemblance 
is  too  common  to  be  the  result  of  coincidence,  too  deep-seated 
to  be  accounted  for  by  mere  communication  between  the  na- 
tions. We  have  gotten  far  beyond  the  possibility  of  such  ex- 
planations ;  and  science  says  now  with  positive  confidence  that 
there  must  have  been  a  time  when  all  these  nations  were  but 
one,  that  their  languages  are  all  but  variations  of  the  tongue 
their  distant  ancestors  once  held  in  common. 

Study  has  progressed  beyond  this  point,  can  tell  us  far 
more  intricate  and  fainter  facts.  It  argues  that  one  by  one  the 
various  tribes  left  their  common  home  and  became  completely 
separated ;  and  that  each  root-sound  still  used  by  all  the  na- 


xxiv  AN  OUTLINE  NARRATIVE  OF 

tions  represents  an  idea,  an  object,  they  already  possessed  be- 
fore their  dispersal.  Thus  we  can  vaguely  reconstruct  that  an- 
cient, aboriginal  civilization.  We  can  even  guess  which  tribes 
first  broke  away,  and  where  again  these  wanderers  subdivided, 
and  at  what  stage  of  progress.  Surely  a  fascinating  science 
this !  And  in  its  infancy !  If  its  later  development  shall  justify 
present  promise,  it  has  still  strange  tales  to  tell  us  in  the  future. 

THE   RACES    OF    MAN 

Turn  now  from  this  tracing  of  our  means  of  knowledge,  to 
speak  of  the  facts  they  tell  us.  When  our  humankind  first  be- 
come clearly  visible  they  are  already  divided  into  races,  which 
for  convenience  we  speak  of  as  white,  yellow,  and  black.  Of 
these  the  whites  had  apparently  advanced  farthest  on  the  road 
to  civilization ;  and  the  white  race  itself  had  become  divided 
into  at  least  three  varieties,  so  clearly  marked  as  to  have  per- 
sisted through  all  the  modern  centuries  of  communication  and 
intermarriage.  Science  is  not  even  able  to  say  positively  that 
these  varieties  or  families  had  a  common  origin.  She  inclines 
to  think  so;  but  when  all  these  later  ages  have  failed  to  oblit- 
erate the  marks  of  difference,  what  far  longer  period  of  separa- 
tion must  have  been  required  to  establish  them ! 

These  three  clearly  outlined  families  of  the  whites  are  the 
Hamites,  of  whom  the  Egyptians  are  the  best-known  type; 
the  Semites,  as  represented  by  ancient  Babylonians  and  modern 
Jews  and  Arabs;  and  the  great  Aryan  or  Indo-European  fam- 
ily, once  called  the  Japhites,  and  including  Hindus,  Persians, 
Greeks,  Latins,  the  modern  Celtic  and  Germanic  races,  and  even 
the  Slavs  or  Russians. 

The  Egyptians,  when  we  first  see  them,  are  already  well 
advanced  toward  civilization.1  To  say  that  they  were  the  first 
people  to  emerge  from  barbarism  is  going  much  further  than 
we  dare.  Their  records  are  the  most  ancient  that  have  come 
clearly  down  to  us ;  but  there  may  easily  have  been  other  social 
organisms,  other  races,  to  whom  the  chances  of  time  and  nature 
have  been  less  gentle.  Cataclysms  may  have  engulfed  more  than 
one  Atlantis ;  and  few  climates  are  so  fitted  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  man's  buildings  as  is  the  rainless  valley  of  the  Nile. 
1  See  the  Dawn  of  Civilization,  page  i. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS  xxv 

Moreover,  the  Egyptians  may  not  have  been  the  earliest  in- 
habitants even  of  their  own  rich  valley.  We  find  hints  that  they 
were  wanderers,  invaders,  coming  from  the  East,  and  that 
with  the  land  they  appropriated  also  the  ideas,  the  inventions, 
of  an  earlier  negroid  race.  But  whatever  they  took  they  added 
to,  they  improved  on.  The  idea  of  futurity,  of  man's  existence 
beyond  the  grave,  became  prominent  among  them ;  and  in  the 
absence  of  clearer  knowledge  we  may  well  take  this  idea  as  the 
groundwork,  the  starting-point,  of  all  man's  later  and  more  strik- 
ing progress. 

Since  the  Egyptians  believed  in  a  future  life  they  strove  to 
preserve  the  body  for  it,  'and  built  ever  stronger  and  more 
gigantic  tombs.  They  strove  to  fit  the  mind  for  it,  and  culti- 
vated virtues,  not  wholly  animal  such  as  physical  strength,  nor 
wholly  commercial  such  as  cunning.  They  even  carved  around 
the  sepulchre  of  the  departed  a  record  of  his  doings,  lest  they 
— and  perhaps  he  too  in  that  next  life — forget.  There  were 
elements  of  intellectual  growth  in  all  this,  conditions  to  stimu- 
late the  mind  beyond  the  body. 

And  the  Egyptians  did  develop.  If  one  reads  the  tales,  the 
romances,  that  have  survived  from  their  remoter  periods,  he 
finds  few  emotions  higher  than  childish  curiosity  or  mere  ani- 
mal rage  and  fear.  Amid  their  latest  stories,  on  the  contrary, 
we  encounter  touches  of  sentiment,  of  pity  and  self-sacrifice, 
such  as  would  even  now  be  not  unworthy  of  praise.  But,  alas ! 
the  improvement  seems  most  marked  where  it  was  most  distant. 
Perhaps  the  material  prosperity  of  the  land  was  too  great,  the 
conditions  of  life  too  easy ;  there  was  no  stimulus  to  effort,  to 
endeavor.  By  about  the  year  2200  B.C.  we  find  Egypt  fallen  into 
the  grip  of  a  cold  and  lifeless  formalism.  Everything  was  fixed 
by  law ;  even  pictures  must  be  drawn  in  a  certain  way,  thoughts 
must  be  expressed  by  stated  and  un variable  symbols.  Advance 
became  wellnigh  impossible.  Everything  lay  in  the  hands  of 
a  priestly  caste  the  completeness  of  whose  dominion  has  per- 
haps never  been  matched  in  history.  The  leaders  lived  lives 
of  luxurious  pleasure  enlightened  by  scientific  study;  but  the 
people  scarce  existed  except  as  automatons.  The  race  was 
dead ;  its  true  life,  the  vigor  of  its  masses,  was  exhausted,  and 
the  land  soon  fell  an  easy  prey  to  every  spirited  invader. 


xxvi  AN  OUTLINE  NARRATIVE  OF 

Meanwhile  a  rougher,  stronger  civilization  was  growing  in 
the  river  valleys  eastward  from  the  Nile.  The  Semitic  tribes, 
who  seem  to  have  had  their  early  seat  and  centre  of  dispersion 
somewhere  in  this  region,  were  coalescing  into  nations,  Baby- 
lonians along  the  lower  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  Assyrians  later 
along  the  upper  rivers,  Hebrews  under  David  and  Solomon1  by 
the  Jordan,  Phoenicians  on  the  Mediterranean  coast. 

The  early  Babylonian  civilization  may  antedate  even  the 
Egyptian ;  but  its  monuments  were  less  permanent,  its  rulers 
less  anxious  for  the  future.  The  "appeal  to  posterity,"  the 
desire  for  a  posthumous  fame,  seems  with  them  to  have  been 
slower  of  conception.  True,  the  first  Babylonian  monarchs  of 
whom  we  have  any  record,  in  an  era  perhaps  over  five  thou- 
sand years  before  Christianity,  stamped  the  royal  signet  on 
every  brick  of  their  walls  and  temples.  But  common-sense  sug- 
gests that  this  was  less  to  preserve  their  fame  than  to  preserve 
their  bricks.  Theft  is  no  modern  innovation. 

They  were  a  mathematical  race,  these  Babylonians.  In  fact, 
Semite  and  mathematician  are  names  that  have  been  closely 
allied  through  all  the  course  of  history,  and  one  cannot  help 
but  wish  our  Aryan  race  had  somewhere  lived  through  an  ex- 
perience which  would  produce  in  them  the  exactitude  in  bal- 
ance and  measurement  of  facts  that  has  distinguished  the 
Arabs  and  the  Jews.  The  Babylonians  founded  astronomy  and 
chronology ;  they  recorded  the  movements  of  the  stars,  and 
divided  their  year  according  to  the  sun  and  moon.  They  built 
a  vast  and  intricate  network  of  canals  to  fertilize  their  land ; 
and  they  arranged  the  earliest  system  of  legal  government,  the 
earliest  code  of  laws,  that  has  come  down  to  us." 

The  sciences,  then,  arise  more  truly  here  than  with  the 
Egyptians.  Man  here  began  to  take  notice,  to  record  and  to 
classify  the  facts  of  nature.  We  may  count  this  the  second 
sible  step  in  his  great  progress.  Never  again  shall  we  find 
him  in  a  childish  attitude  of  idle  wonder  Always  is  his  brain 
alert,  striving  to  understand,  self-conscious  of  its  own  power 
over  nature. 

It  may  have  been  wealth  and  luxury  that  enfeebled  the  Bab- 
1  See  Accession  of  Solomon,  page  92. 
'See  Compilation  of  the  Earliest  Code,  page  14. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS  xxvii 

ylonians  as  it  did  the  Egyptians.  At  any  rate,  their  em- 
pire  was  overturned  by  a  border  colony  of  their  own,  the  As- 
syrians, a  rough  and  hardy  folk  who  had  maintained  them- 
selves for  centuries  battling  against  tribes  from  the  surrounding 
mountains.  It  was  like  a  return  to  barbarism  when  about  B.C. 
880  the  Assyrians  swept  over  the  various  Semite  lands.  Loud 
were  the  laments  of  the  Hebrews ;  terrible  the  tales  of  cruelty ; 
deep  the  scorn  with  which  the  Babylonians  submitted  to  the 
rude  conquerors.'  We  approach  here  a  clearer  historic  period ; 
we  can  trace  with  plainness  the  devastating  track  of  war ; '  we 
can  read  the  boastful  triumph  of  the  Assyrian  chiefs,  can 
watch  them  step  by  step  as  they  adopt  the  culture  and  the 
vices  of  their  new  subjects,  growing  ever  more  graceful  and 
more  enfeebled,  until  they  too  are  overthrown  by  a  new  and 
hardier  race,  the  Persians,  an  Aryan  folk. 

Before  turning  to  this  last  and  most  prominent  family  of 
humankind,  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the  other,  darker  races, 
seen  vaguely  as  they  come  in  contact  with  the  whites.  The 
negroes,  set  sharply  by  themselves  in  Africa,  never  seem  to 
have  created  any  progressive  civilization  of  their  own,  never 
seem  to  have  advanced  further  than  we  find  the  wild  tribes  in 
the  interior  of  the  country  to-day.  But  the  yellow  or  Turanian 
races,  the  Chinese  and  Japanese,  the  Turks  and  the  Tartars, 
did  not  linger  so  helplessly  behind.  The  Chinese,  at  least,  es- 
tablished a  social  world  of  their  own,  widely  different  from  that 
of  the  whites,  in  some  respects  perhaps  superior  to  it.  But 
the  fatal  weakness  of  the  yellow  civilization  was  that  it  was 
not  ennobling  like  the  Egyptian,  not  scientific  like  the  Baby- 
lonian, not  adventurous  and  progressive  as  we  shall  find  the 
Aryan. 

This,  of  course,  is  speaking  in  general  terms.  Something 
somewhat  ennobling  there  may  be  in  the  contemplations  of 
Confucius ; a  but  no  man  can  favorably  compare  the  Chinese 
character  to-day  with  the  European,  whether  we  regard  either 
intensity  of  feeling,  or  variety,  range,  subtlety,  and  beauty  of 
emotion.  So,  also,  the  Chinese  made  scientific  discoveries — 
but  knew  not  how  to  apply  them  or  improve  them.  So  also 

1  See  Rise  and  Fall  of  Assyria,  page  105. 
*  See  Rise  of  Confucius,  page  270. 


xxviii  AN  OUTLINE  NARRATIVE  OF 

they  made  conquests-and  abandoned  them;  toiled— and  sank 

back  into  inertia. 

The  Japanese  present  a  separate  problem,  as  yet  little  under- 
stood in  its  earlier  stages.1  As  to  the  Tartars,  wild  and  hardy 
horsemen  roaming  over  Northern  Asia,  they  kept  for  ages  their 
independent  animal  strength  and  fierceness.  They  appear  and 
disappear  like  flashes.  They  seem  to  seek  no  civilization  of 
their  own;  they  threaten  again  and  again  to  destroy  that  of  all 
the  other  races  of  the  globe.  Fitly,  indeed,  was  their  leader 
Attila  once  termed  "  the  Scourge  of  God." 

THE   ARYANS 

Of  our  own  progressive  Aryan  race,  we  have  no  monuments 
nor  inscriptions  so  old  as  those  of  the  Hamites  and  the  Semites. 
What  comparative  philology  tells  is  this :  An  early,  if  not  the 
original,  home  of  the  Aryans  was  in  Asia,  to  the  eastward  of 
the  Semites,  probably  in  the  mountain  district  back  of  modern 
Persia.  That  is,  they  were  not,  like  the  other  whites,  a  people 
of  the  marsh  lands  and  river  valleys.  They  lived  in  a  higher, 
hardier,  and  more  bracing  atmosphere.  Perhaps  it  was  here 
that  their  minds  took  a  freer  bent,  their  spirits  caught  a  bolder 
tone.  Wherever  they  moved  they  came  as  conquerors  among 
other  races. 

In  their  primeval  home  and  probably  before  the  year  B.C. 
3000,  they  had  already  acquired  a  fair  degree  of  civilization. 
They  built  houses,  ploughed  the  land,  and  ground  grain  into 
flour  for  their  baking.  The  family  relations  were  established 
among  them ;  they  had  some  social  organization  and  simple  form 
of  government ;  they  had  learned  to  worship  a  god,  and  to  see 
in  him  a  counterpart  of  their  tribal  ruler. 

From  their  upland  farms  they  must  have  looked  eastward 
upon  yet  higher  mountains,  rising  impenetrable  above  the  snow- 
line;  but  to  north  and  south  and  west  they  might  turn  to 
lower  regions ;  and  by  degrees,  perhaps  as  they  grew  too  nu- 
merous for  comfort,  a  few  families  wandered  off  along  the 
more  inviting  routes.  Whichever  way  they  started,  their  ad- 
venturous spirit  led  them  on.  We  find  no  trace  of  a  single  case 
where  hearts  failed  or  strength  grew  weary  and  the  movement 
'  See  Prince  Jimmu,  page  140. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS  xxix 

became  retrograde,  back  toward  the  ancient  home.  Spreading 
out,  radiating  in  all  directions,  it  is  they  who  have  explored  the 
earth,  who  have  measured  it  and  marked  its  bounds  and  pene- 
trated almost  to  its  every  corner.  It  is  they  who  still  pant  to 
complete  the  work  so  long  ago  begun. 

Before  B.C.  2000  one  of  these  exuded  swarms  had  penetrated 
India,  probably  by  way  of  the  Indus  River.  In  the  course  of 
a  thousand  years  or  so,  the  intruders  expanded  and  fought  their 
way  slowly  from  the  Indus  to  the  Ganges.  The  earlier  and 
duskier  inhabitants  gave  way  before  them  or  became  incorpo- 
rated in  the  stronger  race.  A  mighty  Aryan  or  Hindu  empire 
was  formed  in  India  and  endured  there  until  well  within  historic 
times. 

Yet  its  power  faded.  Life  in  the  hot  and  languid  tropics 
tends  to  weaken,  not  invigorate,  the  sinews  of  a  race.  Then, 
too,  a  formal  religion,  a  system  of  castes 1  as  arbitrary  as  among 
the  Egyptians,  laid  its  paralyzing  grip  upon  the  land.  About 
B.C.  600  Buddhism,  a  new  and  beautiful  religion,  sought  to  re- 
vive the  despairing  people ;  but  they  were  beyond  its  help.2 
Their  slothful  languor  had  become  too  deep.  From  having 
been  perhaps  the  first  and  foremost  and  most  civilized  of  the 
Aryan  tribes,  the  Hindus  sank  to  be  degenerate  members  of 
the  race.  We  shall  turn  to  look  on  them  again  in  a  later  period ; 
but  they  will  be  seen  in  no  favorable  light. 

Meanwhile  other  wanderers  from  the  Aryan  home  appear 
to  the  north  and  west.  Perhaps  even  the  fierce  Tartars  are  an 
Aryan  race,  much  altered  from  long  dwelling  among  the  yel- 
low peoples.  One  tribe,  the  Persians,  moved  directly  west,  and 
became  neighbors  of  the  already  noted  Semitic  group.  After 
long  wars  backward  and  forward,  bringing  us  well  within  the 
range  of  history,  the  Persians  proved  too  powerful  for  the  whole 
Semite  group.  They  helped  destroy  Assyria,3  they  overthrew 
the  second  Babylonian  empire  which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  built 
up,  and  then,  pressing  on  to  the  conquest  of  Egypt,  they  swept 
the  Hamites  too  from  their  place  of  sovereignty.4 

1  See  The  Formation  of  the  Castes,  page  52. 
'See  The  Foundation  of  Buddhism,  page  160. 

3  See  Destruction  of  Nineveh,  page  105. 

4  See  Conquests  of  Cyrus,  page  250. 


>xx  AN  OUTLINE  NARRATIVE  OF 

How  surely  do  those  tropic  lands  avenge  themselves  on 
each  new  savage  horde  of  invaders  from  the  hardy  North.  It 
is  not  done  in  a  generation,  not  in  a  century,  perhaps.  But 
drop  by  drop  the  vigorous,  tingling,  Arctic  blood  is  sapped 
away.  Year  after  year  the  lazy  comfort,  the  loose  pleasure,  of 
the  south  land  fastens  its  curse  upon  the  mighty  warriors.  As 
we  watch  the  Persians,  we  see  their  kings  go  mad,  or  become 
effeminate  tyrants  sending  underlings  to  do  their  fighting  for 
them.  We  see  the  whole  race  visibly  degenerate,  until  one 
questions  if  Marathon '  were  after  all  so  marvellous  a  victory, 
and  suspects  that  at  whatever  point  the  Persians  had  begun 
their  advance  on  Europe  they  would  have  been  easily  hurled 
back. 

It  was  in  Europe  only  that  the  Aryan  wanderers  found  a 
temperate  climate,  a  region  similar  to  that  in  which  they  had 
been  bred.  Recent  speculation  has  even  suggested  that  Eu- 
rope was  their  primeval  home,  from  which  they  had  strayed 
toward  Asia,  and  to  which  they  now  returned.  Certainly  it  is 
in  Europe  that  the  race  has  continued  to  develop.  Earliest 
of  these  Aryan  waves  to  take  possession  of  their  modern  heri- 
tage, were  the  Celts,  who  must  have  journeyed  over  the  Euro- 
pean continent  at  some  dim  period  too  remote  even  for  a  guess. 
Then  came  the  Greeks  and  Latins,  closely  allied  tribes,  repre- 
senting possibly  a  single  migration,  that  spread  westward  along 
the  islands  and  peninsulas  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  Teutons 
may  have  left  Asia  before  B.C.  1000,  for  they  seem  to  have 
reached  their  German  forests  by  three  centuries  beyond  that 
time,  and  these  vast  migratory  movements  were  very  slow. 
The  latest  Aryan  wave,  that  of  the  Slavs,  came  well  within 
historic  times.  We  almost  fancy  we  can  see  its  movement. 
Russian  statesmen,  indeed,  have  hopes  that  this  is  not  yet 
completed.  They  dream  that  they,  the  youngest  of  the  peoples, 
are  yet  to  dominate  the  whole. 

THE   GREEKS   AND   LATINS 

Of  these  European  Aryans  the  only  branches  that  come 
vithin  the  limits  of  our  present  period,  that  become  noteworthy 
before  B.C.  480,  are  the  Greeks  and  Latins. 

1  See  The  Battle  of  Marathon,  page  322. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS  xxxi 

Their  languages  tell  us  that  they  formed  but  a  single  tribe 
long  after  they  became  separated  from  the  other  peoples  of 
their  race.  Finally,  however,  the  Latins,  journeying  onward, 
lost  sight  of  their  friends,  and  it  must  have  taken  many  cen- 
turies of  separation  for  the  two  tongues  to  grow  so  different  as 
they  were  when  Greeks  and  Romans,  each  risen  to  a  mighty 
nation,  met  again. 

The  Greeks,  or  Hellenes  as  they  called  themselves,  seem  to 
have  been  only  one  of  a  number  of  kindred  tribes  who  occupied 
not  only  the  shores  of  the  ./Egean,  but  Thrace,  Macedonia,  a  con- 
siderable part  of  Asia  Minor,  and  other  neighboring  regions. 
The  Greeks  developed  in  intellect  more  rapidly  than  their 
neighbors,  outdistanced  them  in  the  race  for  civilization,  forgot 
these  poor  relations,  and  grouped  them  with  the  rest  of  out- 
side mankind  under  the  scornful  name  "barbarians." 

Why  it  was  that  the  Greeks  were  thus  specially  stimulated 
beyond  their  brethren  we  do  not  know.  It  has  long  been  one 
of  the  commonplaces  of  history  to  declare  them  the  result  of 
their  environment.  It  is  pointed  out  that  in  Greece  they  lived 
amid  precipitous  mountains,  where,  as  hunters,  they  became 
strong  and  venturesome,  independent  and  self-reliant.  A  sea 
of  islands  lay  all  around ;  and  while  an  open  ocean  might  only 
have  awed  and  intimidated  them,  this  ever-luring  prospect  of 
shore  beyond  shore  rising  in  turn  on  the  horizon  made  them 
sailors,  made  them  friendly  traffickers  among  themselves.  Al- 
ways meeting  new  faces,  driving  new  bargains,  they  became 
alert,  quick-witted,  progressive,  the  foremost  race  of  all  the  an- 
cient world. 

They  do  not  seem  to  have  been  a  creative  folk.  They  only 
adapted  and  carried  to  a  higher  point  what  they  learned  from 
the  older  nations  with  whom  they  now  came  in  contact.  Phoe- 
nicia supplied  them  with  an  alphabet,  and  they  began  the  writ- 
ing of  books.  Egypt  showed  them  her  records,  and,  improv- 
ing on  her  idea,  they  became  historians.  So  far  as  we  know, 
the  earliest  real  " histories  "  were  written  in  Greece;  that  is, 
the  earliest  accounts  of  a  whole  people,  an  entire  series  of 
events,  as  opposed  to  the  merely  individual  statements  on  the 
Egyptian  monuments,  the  personal,  boastful  clamor  of  some 
king, 


xxxii  AN  OUTLINE  NARRATIVE  OF 

Before  we  reach  this  period  of  written  history  we  know  that 
the  Greeks  had  long  been  civilized.  Their  own  legends  scarce 
reach  back  farther  than  the  first  founding  of  Athens,1  which 
they  place  about  B.C.  1500.  Yet  recent  excavations  in  Crete 
have  revealed  the  remains  of  a  civilization  which  must  have 
antedated  that  by  several  centuries. 

But  we  grope  in  darkness !  The  most  ancient  Greek  book 
that  has  come  down  to  us  is  the  Iliad,  with  its  tale  of  the  great 
war  against  Troy.'  Critics  will  not  permit  us  to  call  the  Iliad 
a  history,  because  it  was  not  composed,  or  at  least  not  written 
down,  until  some  centuries  after  the  events  of  which  it  tells. 
Moreover,  it  poetizes  its  theme,  doubtless  enlarges  its  pictures, 
brings  gods  and  goddesses  before  our  eyes,  instead  of  severely 
excluding  everything  except  what  the  blind  bard  perchance 
could  personally  vouch  for. 

Still  both  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  are  good  enough  history 
for  most  of  us,  in  that  they  give  a  full  outline  of  Grecian  life 
and  society  as  Homer  knew  it.  We  see  the  little,  petty  states, 
with  their  chiefs  all-powerful,  and  the  people  quite  ignored. 
We  see  the  heroes  driving  to  battle  in  their  chariots,  guarded 
by  shield  and  helmet,  flourishing  sword  and  spear.  We  learn 
what  Ulysses  did  not  know  of  foreign  lands.  We  hear  Achilles' 
famed  lament  amid  the  dead,  and  note  the  vague  glimmering 
idea  of  a  future  life,  which  the  Greeks  had  caught  perhaps  from 
the  Egyptians,  perhaps  from  the  suggestive  land  of  dreams. 

With  the  year  B.C.  776  we  come  in  contact  with  a  clear 
marked  chronology.  The  Greeks  themselves  reckoned  from 
that  date  by  means  of  olympiads  or  intervals  between  the 
Olympic  games.  The  story  becomes  clear.  The  autocratic 
little  city  kings,  governing  almost  as  they  pleased,  have  every- 
where been  displaced  by  oligarchies.  The  few  leading  nobles 
may  name  one  of  themselves  to  bear  rule,  but  the  real  power 
lies  divided  among  the  class.  Then,  with  the  growing  promi- 
nence of  the  Pythian  games3  we  come  upon  a  new  stage  of  na- 
tional development.  The  various  cities  begin  to  form  alliances, 
cognize  the  fact  that  they  may  be  made  safer  and  happier 

1  See  Theseus  Founds  Athens,  page  45. 

1  See  Fall  of  Troy,  page  70. 

•See  Pythian  Games  at  Delphi,  page  181. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS  xxxiii 

by  a  larger  national  life.  The  sense  of  brotherhood  begins  to 
extend  beyond  the  circle  of  personal  acquaintance. 

This  period  was  one  of  lawmaking,  of  experimenting.  The 
traditions,  the  simple  customs  of  the  old  kingly  days,  were  no 
longer  sufficient  for  the  guidance  of  the  larger  cities,  the  more 
complicated  circles  of  society,  which  were  growing  up  It  was 
no  longer  possible  for  a  man  who  did  not  like  his  tribe  to 
abandon  it  and  wander  elsewhere  with  his  family  and  herds. 
The  land  was  too  fully  peopled  for  that.  The  dissatisfied  could 
only  endure  and  grumble  and  rebel.  One  system  of  law  after 
another  was  tried  and  thrown  aside.  The  class  on  whom  in 
practice  a  rule  bore  most  hard,  would  refuse  longer  assent  to  it. 
There  were  uprisings,  tumults,  bloody  frays. 

Sparta,  at  this  time  the  most  prominent  of  the  Greek  cities, 
evolved  a  code  which  made  her  in  some  ways  the  wonder  of 
ancient  days.  The  state  was  made  all-powerful ;  it  took  entire 
possession  of  the  citizen,  with  the  purpose  of  making  him  a 
fighter,  a  strong  defender  of  himself  and  of  his  country.  His 
home  life  was  almost  obliterated,  or,  if  you  like,  the  whole  city 
was  made  one  huge  family.  All  men  ate  in  common ;  youth 
was  severely  restrained ;  its  training  was  all  for  physical  hardi- 
hood. Modern  socialism,  communism,  have  seldom  ventured 
further  in  theory  than  the  Spartans  went  in  practice.  The  re- 
sult seems  to  have  been  the  production  of  a  race  possessed  of 
tremendous  bodily  power  and  courage,  but  of  stunted  intellect- 
ual growth.  The  great  individual  minds  of  Greece,  the  think- 
ers, the  creators,  did  not  come  from  Sparta. 

In  Athens  a  different  regime  was  meanwhile  developing 
Hellenes  of  another  type.  A  realization  of  how  superior  the 
Greeks  were  to  earlier  races,  of  what  vast  strides  man  was 
making  in  intelligence  and  social  organization,  can  in  no  way 
be  better  gained  than  by  comparing  the  law  code  of  the  Baby- 
lonian Hammurabi  with  that  of  Solon  in  Athens.1  A  period 
of  perhaps  sixteen  hundred  years  separates  the  two,  but  the 
difference  in  their  mental  power  is  wider  still. 

While  the  Greeks  were  thus  forging  rapidly  ahead,  their 
ancient  kindred,  the  Latins,  were  also  progressing,  though  at  a 

1  See  Solon's  Legislation,  page  203,  and  Compilation  of  the  Earliest 
Code,  page  14. 


THE  GREAT  EVENTS 

rate  less  dazzling.  The  true  date  of  Rome's  founding  we  do 
not  know.  Her  own  legends  give  B.C.  753.'  But  recent  exca- 
vations on  the  Palatine  hill  show  that  it  was  already  fortified  at 
a  much  earlier  period.  Rome,  we  believe,  was  originally  a 
frontier  fortress  erected  by  the  Latins  to  protect  them  from 
the  attacks  of  the  non-Aryan  races  among  whom  they  had  in- 
truded. This  stronghold  became  ever  more  numerously  peo- 
pled, until  it  grew  into  an  individual  state  separate  from  the 
other  Latin  cities. 

The  Romans  passed  through  the  vicissitudes  which  we  have 
already  noted  in  Greece  as  characteristic  of  the  Aryan  devel- 
opment. The  early  war  leader  became  an  absolute  king,  his 
power  tended  to  become  hereditary,  but  its  abuse  roused  the 
more  powerful  citizens  to  rebellion,  and  the  kingdom  vanished 
in  an  oligarchy.*  This  last  change  occurred  in  Rome  about  B.C. 
510,  and  it  was  attended  by  such  disasters  that  the  city  sank 
back  into  a  condition  that  was  almost  barbarous  when  compared 
with  her  opulence  under  the  Tarquin  kings. 

It  was  soon  after  this  that  the  Persians,  ignorant  of  their 
own  decadence,  and  dreaming  still  of  world  power,  resolved  to 
conquer  the  remaining  little  states  lying  scarce  known  along 
the  boundaries  of  then-  empire.  They  attacked  the  Greeks, 
and  at  Marathon  (B.C.  490)  and  Salamis  (B.C.  480)  were  hurled 
back  and  their  power  broken.* 

This  was  a  world  event,  one  of  the  great  turning  points, 
a  decision  that  could  not  have  been  otherwise  if  man  was  really 
to  progress.  The  degenerate,  enfeebled,  half-Semitized  Aryans 
of  Asia  were  not  permitted  to  crush  the  higher  type  which  was 
developing  in  Europe.  The  more  vigorous  bodies  and  far  abler 
brains  of  the  Greeks  enabled  them  to  triumph  over  all  the 
hordes  of  their  opponents.  The  few  conquered  the  many ;  and 
the  following  era  became  one  of  European  progress,  not  of 
Asiatic  stagnation. 

1  See  The  Foundation  of  Rome,  page  116. 

*See  Rome  Established  as  a  Republic,  page  300. 

8  See  Battle  of  Marathon,  page  322,  and  Invasion  ofGreece,  page  354. 


[FOR  THE  NEXT  SECTION  OF  THIS  GENERAL  SURVEY  SEE  VOLUME  II.] 


THE    ROSETTA    STONE 

Almost  as  interesting  as  the  Rosetta  Stone  itself  is  the  story  of  its  discovery.  During  the  French  occupation 
of  Egypt  soldiers  were  digging  out  the  foundations  of  a  fort,  and  in  the  trench  the  famous  tablet  was  found.  At  the 
peace  of  Alexandra  the  Rosetta  Stone  passed  to  the  English,  who  (1801  )  housed  it  in  the  British  Museum,  where 
it  remains.  The  text  when  translated  showed  that  the  inscription  is  a  "decree  of  the  priests  of  Memphis,  con- 
ferring divine  honors  on  Ptolemy  V,  Epiphanes,  King  of  Egypt,  B.C.  195,"  on  the  occasion  of  his  coronation. 
Further  it  commands  that  the  decree  be  inscribed  in  the  sacred  letters  (hieroglyphics)  ;  the  alphabet  of  the  people 
(enchorial  or  demotic)  ;  and  Greek. 

It  wa»  recognized  by  the  trustees  of  the  British  Museum  that  the  problem  of  the  Rosetta  Stone  was  one 
which  would  test  the  ingenuity  of  the  scientists  of  the  world  to  unfathom,  and  they  promptly  published  a  carefully 
prepared  copy  of  the  entire  inscription.  Scholars  of  every  nation  exhausted  their  learning  to  unravel  the  riddle,  but 
beyond  a  few  shrewd  guesses  (afterward  proved  to  be  quite  incorrect)  nothing  was  accomplished  for  a  dozen  years. 
The  key  was  there,  but  its  application  required  the  inspired  insight  of  genius. 

Dr.  Thomas  Young,  the  demonstrator  of  the  vibratory  nature  of  light,  who  had  perhaps  the  m  "t  versatile 
profundity  of  knowledge  and  the  keenest  scientific  imagination  of  his  generation,  undertook  the  task. 

Accident  had  called  Young's  attention  to  the  Rosetta  Stone,  and  his  rapacity  for  knowledge  led  him  to 
(peculate  as  to  the  possible  aid  this  trilingual  inscription  might  offer  in  the  solution  of  Egyptian  problems.  Having 
an  amazing  faculty  for  the  acquisition  of  languages,  he,  in  one  short  year,  had  mastered  Coptic,  after  having 
assured  himself  that  it  was  the  nearest  existing  approach  to  the  ancient  Egyptian  language,  and  had  even  made  a 
tentative  attempt  at  the  translation  of  the  Egyptian  scroll.  This  was  the  very  beginning  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
meaning  of  hieroglyphics. 

The  specific  discoveries  that  Dr.  Young  made  were  :  I  ,  That  some  of  the  pictures  of  the  hieroglyphics  stand 
for  the  names  of  the  objects  delineated;  2,  that  other  pictures  are  at  times  only  symbolic  ;  3,  that  plural  numbers 
are  represented  by  repetition;  4,  that  numerals  are  represented  by  dashes;  5,  that  hieroglyphics  may  read  either 
from  the  right  or  from  the  left,  but  always  from  the  direction  in  which  the  animals  and  human  figures  face  ; 
6,  that  a  graven  oval  ring  surrounds  proper  names,  making  a  cartouche  ;  7,  that  the  cartouches  of  the  Rosetta 
Stone  stand  for  the  name  of  Ptolemy  alone;  8,  that  the  presence  of  a  female  figure  after  such  cartouches  always 
denotes  the  female  sex  ;  9,  that  within  the  cartouches  the  hieroglyphic  symbols  have  an  actual  phonetic  value, 
either  alphabetic  or  syllabic  ;  and  10,  that  several  dissimilar  characters  may  have  the  same  phonetic  value. 


Kaharesapusaremkaherreait. 

AN    EGYPTIAN    PROPER    NAME   SPELLED    OUT    IN     FULL    BY 
MEANS   OF  ALPHABETICAL  AND   SYLLABIC   SIGNS. 

Dr.  Young  wa,  certainly  on  the  right  track,  and  very  near  the  complete  discovery  ;   unfortunately  he  failea  to 

step    which  wa,  to  learn  that  the  use  of  an  alphabet  was  not  confined  to  proper  names.      This  grand 

,ung  missed  ;h»  French  successor,  Champollion,  ferreted  it  out  from  the  foundation  he  had  laid.      The 

bmx      was  practically  solved,  and  the  secrets  held  by  the  monuments  of  Egypt  for  so  many 

scl^d  to  the  world.      Champollion  proved  that  the  Egyptians  had   developed  an   alphabet- 

voweb    a,  d,d  a,so  the  ear.y  Semitic  alphabet-centuries  before  the  Ph.nicians  were  heard  of 

se  p,ctures  are  purely  alphabetical  in  character,  some  are  otherwise  symbolic.      Some 

jJabH  others  aga.n  stand  as  representatives  of  sounds,  and  once  again,  as  representatives  of 

lungs  ,  hence  the  difficulties  and  complications  it  presented. 


DAWN  OF  CIVILIZATION 

B.C.  5867 » 

G.  C.  C.  MASPERO 

It  is  a  far  cry  to  hark  back  to  11,000  years  before  Christ,  yet  borings 
in  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  whence  comes  the  first  recorded  history  of  the 
human  race,  have  unveiled  to  the  light  pottery  and  other  relics  of  civili- 
zation that,  at  the  rate  of  deposits  of  the  Nile,  must  have  taken  at  least 
that  number  of  years  to  cover. 

Nature  takes  countless  thousands  of  years  to  form  and  build  up  her 
limestone  hills,  but  buried  deep  in  these  we  find  evidences  of  a  stone  age 
wherein  man  devised  and  made  himself  edged  tools  and  weapons  of 
rudely  chipped  stone.  These  shaped,  edged  implements,  we  have 
learned,  were  made  by  white-heating  a  suitable  flint  or  stone  and  tracing 
thereon  with  cold  water  the  pattern  desired,  just  as  practised  by  the 
Indians  of  the  American  continent,  and  in  our  day  by  the  manufacturers 
of  ancient  (sic)  arrow-,  spear-,  and  axe-heads.  This  shows  a  civilization 
that  has  learned  the  method  of  artificially  producing  fire,  and  its  uses. 

Egypt  is  the  monumental  land  of  the  earth,  as  the  Egyptians  are  the 
monumental  people  of  history.  The  first  human  monarch  to  reign  over 
all  Egypt  was  Menes,  the  founder  of  Memphis.  As  the  gate  of  Africa, 
Egypt  has  always  held  an  important  position  in  world-politics.  Its  an- 
cient wealth  and  power  were  enormous.  Inclusive  of  the  Soudan,  its 
population  is  now  more  than  eight  millions.  Its  present  importance  is 
indicated  by  its  relations  to  England.  Historians  vary  in  their  compila- 
tions of  Egyptian  chronology.  The  epoch  of  Menes  is  fixed  by  Bunsen 
at  B.C.  3643,  by  Lepsius  at  B.C.  3892,  and  by  Poole  at  B.C.  2717.  Before 
Menes  Egypt  was  divided  into  independent  kingdoms.  It  has  always 
been  a  country  of  mysteries,  with  the  mighty  Nile,  and  its  inundations,  so 
little  understood  by  the  ancients ;  its  trackless  desert ;  its  camels  and 
caravans ;  its  tombs  and  temples ;  its  obelisks  and  pyramids,  its  groups 
of  gods:  Ra,  Osiris,  Isis,  Apis,  Horus,  Hathor — the  very  names  breathe 
suggestions  of  mystery,  cruelty,  pomp,  and  power.  In  the  sciences  and 
in  the  industrial  arts  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  highly  cultivated.  Much 
Egyptian  literature  has  come  down  to  us,  but  it  is  unsystematic  and  en- 
tirely devoid  of  style,  being  without  lofty  ideas  or  charms.  In  art,  how- 
ever, Egypt  may  be  placed  next  to  Greece,  particularly  in  architecture. 

The  age  of  the  Pyramid-builders  was  a  brilliant  one.  They  prove 
the  magnificence  of  the  kings  and  the  vast  amount  of  human  labor  at  their 

1  Champollion. 
E.,  VOl.-  X — 1 


.2  DAWN  OF  CIVILIZATION 

disposal.  The  regal  power  at  that  time  was  very  strong.  The  reign  of 
Khufu  or  Cheops  is  marked  by  the  building  of  the  great  pyramid.  The 
pyramids  were  the  tombs  of  kings,  built  in  the  necropolis  of  Memphis, 
ten  miles  above  the  modem  Cairo.  Security  was  the  object  as  well  as 

splendor. 

As  remarked  by  a  great  Egyptologist,  the  whole  life  of  the  Egyptian 
was  spent  in  the  contemplation  of  death ;  thus  the  tomb  became  the 
concrete  thought.  The  belief  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  was  that  so  long 
as  his  body  remained  intact  so  was  his  immortality ;  whence  arose  the 
embalming  of  the  great  and  hence  the  immense  structures  of  stone  to 
secure  the  inviolability  of  the  entombed  monarch. 

HP  HE  monuments  have  as  yet  yielded  no  account  of  the  events 
which  tended  to  unite  Egypt  under  the  rule  of  one  man ; 
we  can  only  surmise  that  the  feudal  principalities  had  gradually 
been  drawn  together  into  two  groups,  each  of  which  formed  a 
separate  kingdom.  Heliopolis  became  the  chief  focus  in  the 
north,  from  which  civilization  radiated  over  the  wet  plain  and 
the  marshes  of  the  Delta. 

Its  colleges  of  priests  had  collected,  condensed,  and  arranged 
the  principal  myths  of  the  local  regions ;  the  Ennead  to  which 
it  gave  conception  would  never  have  obtained  the  popularity 
which  we  must  acknowledge  it  had,  if  its  princes  had  not  exer- 
cised, for  at  least  some  period,  an  actual  suzerainty  over  the 
neighboring  plains.  It  was  around  Heliopolis  that  the  king- 
dom of  Lower  Egypt  was  organized;  everything  there  bore 
traces  of  Heliopolitan  theories — the  protocol  of  the  kings,  their 
supposed  descent  from  Ra,  and  the  enthusiastic  worship  which 
they  offered  to  the  sun. 

The  Delta,  owing  to  its  compact  and  restricted  area,  was 
aptly  suited  for  government  from  one  centre ;  the  Nile  valley 
proper,  narrow,  tortuous,  and  stretching  like  a  thin  strip  on  either 
bank  of  the  river,  did  not  lend  itself  to  so  complete  a  unity. 
It,  too,  represented  a  single  kingdom,  having  the  reed  and  the 
lotus  for  its  emblems;  but  its  component  parts  were  more 
loosely  united,  its  religion  was  less  systematized,  and  it  lacked 
a  well-placed  city  to  serve  as  a  political  and  sacerdotal  centre. 
Hermopolis  contained  schools  of  theologians  who  certainly 
played  an  important  part  in  the  development  of  myths  and  dog- 
mas ;  but  the  influence  of  its  rulers  was  never  widely  felt. 

In  the  south,  Siut  disputed  their  supremacy,  and  Heracle- 


DAWN   OF   CIVILIZATION  3 

npolis  stopped  their  road  to  the  north.  These  three  cities 
thwarted  and  neutralized  one  another,  and  not  one  of  them  ever 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  lasting  authority  over  Upper  Egypt. 
Each  of  the  two  kingdoms  had  its  own  natural  advantages  and 
its  system  of  government,  which  gave  to  it  a  peculiar  character, 
and  stamped  it,  as  it  were,  with  a  distinct  personality  down  to 
its  latest  days.  The  kingdom  of  Upper  Egypt  was  more  power- 
ful, richer,  better  populated,  and  was  governed  apparently  by 
more  active  and  enterprising  rulers.  It  is  to  one  of  the  latter, 
Mini  or  Menes  of  Thinis,  that  tradition  ascribes  the  honor  of 
having  fused  the  two  Egypts  into  a  single  empire,  and  of  hav- 
ing inaugurated  the  reign  of  the  human  dynasties. 

Thinis  figured  in  the  historic  period  as  one  of  the  least  of 
Egyptian  cities.  It  barely  maintained  an  existence  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Nile,  if  not  on  the  exact  spot  now  occupied  by 
Girgeh,  at  least  only  a  short  distance  from  it.  The  principality 
of  the  Osirian  Reliquary,  of  which  it  was  the  metropolis,  occu- 
pied the  valley  from  one  mountain  to  the  other,  and  gradually 
extended  across  the  desert  as  far  as  the  Great  Theban  Oasis. 
Its  inhabitants  worshipped  a  sky-god,  Anhuri,  or  rather  two 
twin  gods,  Anhuri-shu,  who  were  speedily  amalgamated  with 
the  solar  deities  and  became  a  warlike  personification  of  Ra. 

Anhuri-shu,  like  all  other  solar  manifestations,  came  to  be 
associated  with  a  goddess  having  the  form  or  head  of  a  lioness 
— a  Sokhit,  who  took  for  the  occasion  the  epithet  of  Mihit,  the 
northern  one.  Some  of  the  dead  from  this  city  are  buried  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Nile,  near  the  modern  village  of  Mesheikh, 
at  the  foot  of  the  Arabian  chain,  whose  deep  cliffs  here  ap- 
proach somewhat  near  the  river :  the  principal  necropolis  was  at 
some  distance  to  the  east,  near  the  sacred  town  of  Abydos.  It 
would  appear  that,  at  the  outset,  Abydos  was  the  capital  of  the 
country,  for  the  entire  nome  bore  the  same  name  as  the  city, 
and  had  adopted  for  its  symbol  the  representation  of  the  reli- 
quary in  which  the  god  reposed. 

In  very  early  times  Abydos  fell  into  decay,  and  resigned  its 
political  rank  to  Thinis,  but  its  religious  importance  remained 
unimpaired.  The  city  occupied  a  long  and  narrow  strip  between 
the  canal  and  the  first  slopes  of  the  Libyan  mountains.  A 
brick  fortress  defended  it  from  the  incursions  of  the  Bedouin, 


4  DAWN  OF   CIVILIZATION 

and  beside  it  the  temple  of  the  god  of  the  dead  reared  its  naked 
walls.  Here  Anhuri,  having  passed  from  life  to  death,  was 
worshipped  under  the  name  of  Khontamentit,  the  chief  of  that 
western  region  whither  souls  repair  on  quitting  this  earth. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  by  what  blending  of  doctrines  or  by 
what  political  combinations  this  Sun  of  the  Night  came  to  be 
identified  with  Osiris  of  Mendes,  since  the  fusion  dates  back  to 
a  very  remote  antiquity ;  it  had  become  an  established  fact  long 
before  the  most  ancient  sacred  books  were  compiled.  Osiris 
Khontamentit  grew  rapidly  in  popular  favor,  and  his  temple  at- 
tracted annually  an  increasing  number  of  pilgrims.  The  Great 
Oasis  had  been  considered  at  first  as  a  sort  of  mysterious  para- 
dise, whither  the  dead  went  in  search  of  peace  and  happiness. 
It  was  called  Uit,  the  Sepulchre ;  this  name  clung  to  it  after  it 
had  become  an  actual  Egyptian  province,  and  the  remembrance 
of  its  ancient  purpose  survived  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  so 
that  the  "  cleft,"  the  gorge  in  the  mountain  through  which  the 
doubles  journeyed  toward  it,  never  ceased  to  be  regarded  as 
one  of  the  gates  of  the  other  world. 

At  the  time  of  the  New  Year  festivals,  spirits  flocked  thither 
from  all  parts  of  the  valley ;  they  there  awaited  the  coming  of 
the  dying  sun,  in  order  to  embark  with  him  and  enter  safely  the 
dominions  of  Khontamentit.  Abydos,  even  before  the  historic 
period,  was  the  only  town,  and  its  god  the  only  god,  whose 
worship,  practised  by  all  Egyptians,  inspired  them  all  with  an 
equal  devotion. 

Did  this  sort  of  moral  conquest  give  rise,  later  on,  to  a  belief 
in  a  material  conquest  by  the  princes  of  Thinis  and  Abydos,  or 
is  there  an  historical  foundation  for  the  tradition  which  ascribes 
to  them  the  establishment  of  a  single  monarchy?  It  is  the 
Thinite  Menes,  whom  the  Theban  annalists  point  out  as  the 
ancestor  of  the  glorious  Pharaohs  of  the  XVIII  dynasty:  it  is 
he  also  who  is  inscribed  in  the  Memphite  chronicles,  followed 
by  Manetho,  at  the  head  of  their  lists  of  human  kings,  and  all 
Egypt  for  centuries  acknowledged  him  as  its  first  mortal  ruler. 

•t  is  true  that  a  chief  of  Thinis  may  well  have  borne  such  a 
name,  and  may  have  accomplished  feats  which  rendered  him 
.amous;  but  on  closer  examination  his  pretensions  to  reality 
disappear,  and  his  personality  is  reduced  to  a  cipher. 


DAWN   OF  CIVILIZATION  $ 

"This  Menes,  according  to  the  priests,  surrounded  Memphis 
with  dikes.  For  the  river  formerly  followed  the  sand-hills  for 
some  distance  on  the  Libyan  side.  Menes,  having  dammed  up 
the  reach  about  a  hundred  stadia  to  the  south  of  Memphis, 
caused  the  old  bed  to  dry  up,  and  conveyed  the  river  through 
an  artificial  channel  dug  midway  between  the  two  mountain 
ranges. 

"  Then  Menes,  the  first  who  was  king,  having  enclosed  a 
space  of  ground  with  dikes,  founded  that  town  which  is  still 
called  Memphis :  he  then  made  a  lake  around  it  to  the  north 
and  west,  fed  by  the  river ;  the  city  he  bounded  on  the  east  by 
the  Nile."  The  history  of  Memphis,  such  as  it  can  be  gathered 
from  the  monuments,  differs  considerably  from  the  tradition 
current  in  Egypt  at  the  time  of  Herodotus. 

It  appears,  indeed,  that  at  the  outset  the  site  on  which  it 
subsequently  arose  was  occupied  by  a  small  fortress,  Anbu-hazu 
— the  white  wall — which  was  dependent  on  Heliopolis  and  in 
which  Phtah  possessed  a  sanctuary.  After  the  "  white  wall " 
was  separated  from  the  Heliopolitan  principality  to  form  a 
nome  by  itself  it  assumed  a  certain  importance,  and  furnished, 
so  it  was  said,  the  dynasties  which  succeeded  the  Thinite.  Its 
prosperity  dates  only,  however,  from  the  time  when  the  sov- 
ereigns of  the  V  and  VI  dynasties  fixed  on  it  for  their  resi- 
dence ;  one  of  them,  Papi  I,  there  founded  for  himself  and  for 
his  "  double  "  after  him,  a  new  town,  which  he  called  Minnofiru, 
from  his  tomb.  Minnofiru,  which  is  the  correct  pronunciation 
and  the  origin  of  Memphis,  probably  signified  "  the  good  ref- 
uge," the  haven  of  the  good,  the  burying-place  where  the 
blessed  dead  came  to  rest  beside  Osiris. 

The  people  soon  forgot  the  true  interpretation,  or  probably 
it  did  not  fall  in  with  their  taste  for  romantic  tales.  They 
rather  despised,  as  a  rule,  to  discover  in  the  beginnings  of  his- 
tory individuals  from  whom  the  countries  or  cities  with  which 
they  were  familiar  took  their  names :  if  no  tradition  supplied 
them  with  this,  they  did  not  experience  any  scruples  in  invent- 
ing one.  The  Egyptians  of  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies,  who 
were  guided  in  their  philological  speculations  by  the  pronuncia- 
tion in  vogue  around  them,  attributed  the  patronship  of  their 
city  to  a  Princess  Memphis,  a  daughter  of  its  founder,  the  fabu- 


6  DAWN  OF   CIVILIZATION 

lous  Uchoreus;  those  of  preceding  ages  before  the  name  had 
become  altered  thought  to  find  in  Minnofiru  or  "  Mini  Nofir," 
or  "  Menes  the  Good,"  the  reputed  founder  of  the  capital  of  the 
Delta.  Menes  the  Good,  divested  of  his  epithet,  is  none  other 
than  Menes,  the  first  king  of  all  Egypt,  and  he  owes  his  exist- 
ence to  a  popular  attempt  at  etymology. 

The  legend  which  identifies  the  establishment  of  the  king- 
dom with  the  construction  of  the  city,  must  have  originated  at 
a  time  when  Memphis  was  still  the  residence  of  the  kings  and 
the  seat  of  government,  at  latest  about  the  end  of  the  Mem- 
phite  period.  It  must  have  been  an  old  tradition  at  the  time  of 
the  Theban  dynasties,  since  they  admitted  unhesitatingly  the 
authenticity  of  the  statements  which  ascribed  to  the  northern 
city  so  marked  a  superiority  over  their  own  country.  When 
the  hero  was  once  created  and  firmly  established  in  his  posi- 
tion, there  was  little  difficulty  in  inventing  a  story  about  him 
which  would  portray  him  as  a  paragon  and  an  ideal  sovereign. 

He  was  represented  in  turn  as  architect,  warrior,  and  states- 
man ;  he  had  founded  Memphis,  he  had  begun  the  temple  of 
Phtah,  written  laws  and  regulated  the  worship  of  the  gods,  par- 
ticularly that  of  Hapis,  and  he  had  conducted  expeditions 
against  the  Libyans.  When  he  lost  his  only  son  in  the  flower 
of  his  age,  the  people  improvised  a  hymn  of  mourning  to  con- 
sole him — the  "  Maneros  " — both  the  words  and  the  tune  of 
which  were  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation. 

He  did  not,  moreover,  disdain  the  luxuries  of  the  table,  for 
he  invented  the  art  of  serving  a  dinner,  and  the  mode  of  eating 
it  in  a  reclining  posture.  One  day,  while  hunting,  his  dogs,  ex- 
cited by  something  or  other,  fell  upon  him  to  devour  him.  He 
escaped  with  difficulty  and,  pursued  by  them,  fled  to  the  shore 
of  Lake  Mceris,  and  was  there  brought  to  bay ;  he  was  on  the 
point  of  succumbing  to  them,  when  a  crocodile  took  him  on  his 
back  and  carried  him  across  to  the  other  side.  In  gratitude  he 
built  a  new  town,  which  he  called  Crocodilopolis,  and  assigned 
to  it  for  its  god  the  crocodile  which  had  saved  him ;  he  then 
erected  close  to  it  the  famous  labyrinth  and  a  pyramid  for  his 
tomb. 

Other  traditions  show  him  in  a  less  favorable  light.  They 
accuse  him  of  having,  by  horrible  crimes,  excited  against  him 


DAWN   OF  CIVILIZATION  7 

the  anger  of  the  gods,  and  allege  that  after  a  reign  of  sixty-two 
years  he  was  killed  by  a  hippopotamus  which  came  forth  from 
the  Nile.  They  also  relate  that  the  Saite  Tafnakhti,  return- 
ing from  an  expedition  against  the  Arabs,  during  which  he  had 
been  obliged  to  renounce  the  pomp  and  luxuries  of  life,  had 
solemnly  cursed  him,  and  had  caused  his  imprecations  to  be  in- 
scribed upon  a  "  stele " '  set  up  in  the  temple  of  Amon  at 
Thebes.  Nevertheless,  in  the  memory  that  Egypt  preserved 
of  its  first  Pharaoh,  the  good  outweighed  the  evil.  He  was 
worshipped  in  Memphis,  side  by  side  with  Phtah  and  Ramses 
II. ;  his  name  figured  at  the  head  of  the  royal  lists,  and  his 
cult  continued  till  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies. 

His  immediate  successors  have  only  a  semblance  of  reality, 
such  as  he  had.  The  lists  give  the  order  of  succession,  it  is 
true,  with  the  years  of  their  reigns  almost  to  a  day,  sometimes 
the  length  of  their  lives,  but  we  may  well  ask  whence  the 
chroniclers  procured  so  much  precise  information.  They  were 
in  the  same  position  as  ourselves  with  regard  to  these  ancient 
kings :  they  knew  them  by  a  tradition  of  a  later  age,  by  a  frag- 
ment papyrus  fortuitously  preserved  in  a  temple,  by  accident- 
ally coming  across  some  monument  bearing  their  name,  and 
were  reduced,  as  it  were,  to  put  together  the  few  facts  which 
they  possessed,  or  to  supply  such  as  were  wanting  by  conjec- 
tures, often  in  a  very  improbable  manner.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  they  were  unable  to  gather  from  the  memory  of  the  past 
the  names  of  those  individuals  of  which  they  made  up  the  first 
two  dynasties.  The  forms  of  these  names  are  curt  and  rugged, 
and  indicative  of  a  rude  and  savage  state,  harmonizing  with  the 
semi-barbaric  period  to  which  they  are  relegated:  Ati  the 
Wrestler,  Teti  the  Runner,  Qeunqoni  the  Crusher,  are  suitable 
rulers  for  a  people  the  first  duty  of  whose  chief  was  to  lead  his 
followers  into  battle,  and  to  strike  harder  than  any  other  man 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight. 

The  inscriptions  supply  us  with  proofs  that  some  of  these 
princes  lived  and  reigned: — Sondi,  who  is  classed  in  the  II 
dynasty,  received  a  continuous  worship  toward  the  end  of  the 
III  dynasty.  But  did  all  those  who  preceded  him,  and  those 

1  The  burned  tile  showing  the  impression  of  the  stylus,  made  on  the 
clay  while  plastic. — ED. 


g  DAWN   OF   CIVILIZATION 

who  followed  him,  exist  as  he  did  ?  And  if  they  existed,  do  the 
order  and  relation  agree  with  actual  truth  ?  The  different  lists 
do  not  contain  the  same  names  in  the  same  position;  certain 
Pharaohs  are  added  or  suppressed  without  appreciable  reason. 
Where  Manetho  inscribes  Kenkenes  and  Ouenephes,  the  tables 
of  the  time  of  Seti  I  give  us  Ati  and  Ata;  Manetho  reckons 
nine  kings  to  the  II  dynasty,  while  they  register  only  five. 
The  monuments,  indeed,  show  us  that  Egypt  in  the  past  obeyed 
princes  whom  her  annalists  were  unable  to  classify :  for  instance, 
they  associated  with  Sondi  a  Pirsenu,  who  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  annals.  We  must,  therefore,  take  the  record  of  all  this  open- 
ing period  of  history  for  what  it  is— namely,  a  system  invented 
at  a  much  later  date,  by  means  of  various  artifices  and  combi- 
nations—to be  partially  accepted  in  default  of  a  better,  but 
without,  according  to  it,  that  excessive  confidence  which  it  has 
hitherto  received.  The  two  Thinite  dynasties,  in  direct  descent 
from  the  fabulous  Menes,  furnish,  like  this  hero  himself,  only 
a  tissue  of  romantic  tales  and  miraculous  legends  in  the  place 
of  history.  A  double-headed  stork,  which  had  appeared  in  the 
first  year  of  Teti,  son  of  Menes,  had  foreshadowed  to  Egypt  a 
long  prosperity,  but  a  famine  under  Ouenephes,  and  a  terrible 
plague  under  Semempses,  had  depopulated  the  country;  the 
laws  had  been  relaxed,  great  crimes  had  been  committed,  and 
revolts  had  broken  out. 

During  the  reign  of  the  Boethos  a  gulf  had  opened  near 
Bubastis,  and  swallowed  up  many  people,  then  the  Nile  had 
flowed  with  honey  for  fifteen  days  in  the  time  of  Nephercheres, 
and  Sesochris  was  supposed  to  have  been  a  giant  in  stature.  A 
few  details  about  royal  edifices  were  mixed  up  with  these  prodi- 
gies. Teti  had  laid  the  foundation  of  the  great  palace  of  Mem- 
phis, Ouenephes  had  built  the  pyramids  of  Ko-kome  near  Saq- 
qara.  Several  of  the  ancient  Pharaohs  had  published  books  on 
theology,  or  had  written  treatises  on  anatomy  and  medicine; 
several  had  made  laws  called  Kakou,  the  male  of  males,  or  the 
bull  of  bulls.  They  explained  his  name  by  the  statement  that 
he  had  concerned  himself  about  the  sacred  animals;  he  had 
proclaimed  as  gods,  Hapis  of  Memphis,  Mnevis  of  Heliopolis, 
and  the  goat  of  Mendes. 

After  him,  Binothris  had  conferred  the  right  of  succession 


DAWN  OF  CIVILIZATION  9 

upon  all  women  of  the  blood-royal.  The  accession  of  the  III 
dynasty,  a  Memphite  one  according  to  Manetho,  did  not  at  first 
change  the  miraculous  character  of  this  history.  The  Libyans 
had  revolted  against  Necherophes,  and  the  two  armies  were  en- 
camped before  each  other,  when  one  night  the  disk  of  the  moon 
became  immeasurably  enlarged,  to  the  great  alarm  of  the 
rebels,  who  recognized  in  this  phenomenon  a  sign  of  the  anger 
of  heaven,  and  yielded  without  fighting.  Tosorthros,  the  suc- 
cessor of  Necherophes,  brought  the  hieroglyphs  and  the  art  of 
stone-cutting  to  perfection.  He  composed,  as  Teti  did,  books 
of  medicine,  a  fact  which  caused  him  to  be  identified  with  the 
healing  god  Imhotpu.  The  priests  related  these  things  serious- 
ly, and  the  Greek  writers  took  them  down  from  their  lips  with 
the  respect  which  they  offered  to  everything  emanating  from 
the  wise  men  of  Egypt. 

What  they  related  of  the  human  kings  was  not  more  detailed, 
as  we  see,  than  their  accounts  of  the  gods.  Whether  the  le- 
gends dealt  with  deities  or  kings,  all  that  we  know  took  its 
origin,  not  in  popular  imagination,  but  in  sacerdotal  dogma: 
they  were  invented  long  after  the  times  they  dealt  with,  in  the 
recesses  of  the  temples,  with  an  intention  and  a  method  of 
which  we  are  enabled  to  detect  flagrant  instances  on  the  monu- 
ments. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  third  century  before  our  era  the 
Greek  troops  stationed  on  the  southern  frontier,  in  the  forts  at 
the  first  cataract,  developed  a  particular  veneration  for  Isis  of 
Philae.  Their  devotion  spread  to  the  superior  officers  who 
came  to  inspect  them,  then  to  the  whole  population  of  the  The- 
baid,  and  finally  reached  the  court  of  the  Macedonian  kings. 
The  latter,  carried  away  by  force  of  example,  gave  every  en- 
couragement to  a  movement  which  attracted  worshippers  to  a 
common  sanctuary,  and  united  in  one  cult  two  races  over  which 
they  ruled.  They  pulled  down  the  meagre  building  of  the 
Saite  period,  which  had  hitherto  sufficed  for  the  worship  of 
Isis,  constructed  at  great  cost  the  temple  which  still  remains 
almost  intact,  and  assigned  to  it  considerable  possessions  in 
Nubia,  which,  in  addition  to  gifts  from  private  individuals,  made 
the  goddess  the  richest  land-owner  in  Southern  Egypt.  Knumu 
and  his  two  wives,  Anukit  and  Satit,  who,  before  Isis,  had  been 


10  DAWN   OF   CIVILIZATION 

the  undisputed  suzerains  of  the  cataract,  perceived  with  jeal- 
ousy their  neighbor's  prosperity :  the  civil  wars  and  invasions 
of  the  centuries  immediately  preceding  had  ruined  their  tem- 
ples, and  their  poverty  contrasted  painfully  with  the  riches  of 
the  new-comer. 

The  priests  resolved  to  lay  this  sad  state  of  affairs  before 
King  Ptolemy,  to  represent  to  him  the  services  which  they  had 
rendered  and  still  continued  to  render  to  Egypt,  and  above  all 
to  remind  him  of  the  generosity  of  the  ancient  Pharaohs,  whose 
example,  owing  to  the  poverty  of  the  times,  the  recent  Pharaohs 
had  been  unable  to  follow.  Doubtless  authentic  documents 
were  wanting  in  their  archives  to  support  their  pretensions : 
they  therefore  inscribed  upon  a  rock,  in  the  island  of  Sehel,  a 
long  inscription  which  they  attributed  to  Zosiri  of  the  III 
dynasty.  This  sovereign  had  left  behind  him  a  vague  reputa- 
tion for  greatness.  As  early  as  the  XII  dynasty  Usirtasen 
III  had  claimed  him  as  "his  father" — his  ancestor — and  had 
erected  a  statue  to  him ;  the  priests  knew  that,  by  invoking  him, 
they  had  a  chance  of  obtaining  a  hearing. 

The  inscription  which  they  fabricated  set  forth  that  in  the 
eighteenth  year  of  Zosiri's  reign  he  had  sent  to  Madir,  lord  of 
Elephantine,  a  message  couched  in  these  terms :  "  I  am  over- 
come with  sorrow  for  the  throne,  and  for  those  who  reside  in 
the  palace,  and  my  heart  is  afflicted  and  suffers  greatly  because 
the  Nile  has  not  risen  in  my  time,  for  the  space  of  eight  years 
Corn  is  scarce,  there  is  a  lack  of  herbage,  and  nothing  is  left  to 
eat :  when  any  one  calls  upon  his  neighbors  for  help,  they  take 
pains  not  to  go.  The  child  weeps,  the  young  man  is  uneasy, 
the  hearts  of  the  old  men  are  in  despair,  their  limbs  are  bent, 
they  crouch  on  the  earth,  they  fold  their  hands ;  the  courtiers 
have  no  further  resources ;  the  shops  formerly  furnished  with 
rich  wares  are  now  filled  only  with  air,  all  that  was  within  them 
has  disappeared.  My  spirit  also,  mindful  of  the  beginning  of 
things,  seeks  to  call  upon  the  savior  who  was  here  where  I  am, 
during  the  centuries  of  the  gods,  upon  Thot-Ibis,  that  great  wise 
one,  upon  Imhotpu,  son  of  Phtah  of  Memphis.  Where  is  the 
place  in  which  the  Nile  is  born  ?  Who  is  the  god  or  goddess 
concealed  there  ?  What  is  his  likeness  ? " 

The  lord  of  Elephantine  brought  his  reply  in  person.     He 


DAWN   OF   CIVILIZATION  11 

described  to  the  king,  who  was  evidently  ignorant  of  it,  the 
situation  of  the  island  and  the  rocks  of  the  cataract,  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  inundation,  the  gods  who  presided  over  it,  and 
who  alone  could  relieve  Egypt  from  her  disastrous  plight. 

Zosiri  repaired  to  the  temple  of  the  principality  and  offered 
the  prescribed  sacrifices ;  the  god  arose,  opened  his  eyes,  panted, 
and  cried  aloud,  "  I  am  Khnumu  who  created  thee ! "  and  prom- 
ised him  a  speedy  return  of  a  high  Nile  and  the  cessation  of  the 
famine. 

Pharaoh  was  touched  by  the  benevolence  which  his  divine 
father  had  shown  him ;  he  forthwith  made  a  decree  by  which 
he  ceded  to  the  temple  all  his  rights  of  suzerainty  over  the 
neighboring  nomes  within  a  radius  of  twenty  miles. 

Henceforward  the  entire  population,  tillers  and  vinedress- 
ers, fishermen  and  hunters,  had  to  yield  the  tithe  of  their  in- 
come to  the  priests ;  the  quarries  could  not  be  worked  without 
the  consent  of  Khnumu,  and  the  payment  of  a  suitable  indem- 
nity into  his  coffers ;  finally,  metals  and  precious  woods,  shipped 
thence  for  Egypt,  had  to  submit  to  a  toll  on  behalf  of  the  temple. 

Did  the  Ptolemies  admit  the  claims  which  the  local  priests 
attempted  to  deduce  from  this  romantic  tale  ?  and  did  the  god 
regain  possession  of  the  domains  and  dues  which  they  declared 
had  been  his  right  ?  The  stele  shows  us  with  what  ease  the 
scribes  could  forge  official  documents  when  the  exigencies  of 
daily  life  forced  the  necessity  upon  them ;  it  teaches  us  at  the 
same  time  how  that  fabulous  chronicle  was  elaborated,  whose 
remains  have  been  preserved  for  us  by  classical  writers.  Every 
prodigy,  every  fact  related  by  Manetho,  was  taken  from  some 
document  analogous  to  the  supposed  inscription  of  Zosiri. 

The  real  history  of  the  early  centuries,  therefore,  eludes  our 
researches,  and  no  contemporary  record  traces  for  us  those 
vicissitudes  which  Egypt  passed  through  before  being  consoli- 
dated into  a  single  kingdom,  under  the  rule  of  one  man.  Many 
names,  apparently  of  powerful  and  illustrious  princes,  had  sur- 
vived in  the  memory  of  the  people ;  these  were  collected,  classi- 
fied, and  grouped  in  a  regular  manner  into  dynasties,  but  the 
people  were  ignorant  of  any  exact  facts  connected  with  the 
names,  and  the  historians,  on  their  own  account,  were  reduced 
to  collect  apocryphal  traditions  for  their  sacred  archives. 


12 


DAWN  OF  CIVILIZATION 


The  monuments  of  these  remote  ages,  however,  cannot 
have  entirely  disappeared:  they  existed  in  places  where  we 
have  not  as  yet  thought  of  applying  the  pick,  and  chance  ex- 
cavations will  some  day  most  certainly  bring  them  to  light. 
The  few  which  we  do  possess  barely  go  back  beyond  the  III 
dynasty:  namely,  the  hypogeum  of  Shiri,  priest  of  Sondi  and 
Pirsenu;  possibly  the  tomb  of  Khuithotpu  at  Saqqara;  the 
Great  Sphinx  of  Gizeh;  a  short  inscription  on  the  rocks  of 
Wady  Maghara,  which  represents  Zosiri  (the  same  king  of 
whom  the  priests  of  Khnumu  in  the  Greek  period  made  a  pre- 
cedent) working  the  turquoise  or  copper  mines  of  Sinai ;  and 
finally  the  step  pyramid  where  this  Pharaoh  rests.  It  forms  a 
rectangular  mass,  incorrectly  oriented,  with  a  variation  from 
the  true  north  of  4°  35',  393  ft.,  8  in.  long  from  east  to  west, 
and  352  ft.  deep,  with  a  height  of  159  ft.  9  in.  It  is  composed 
of  six  cubes,  with  sloping  sides,  each  being  about  13  ft.  less  in 
width  than  the  one  below  it ;  that  nearest  to  the  ground  meas- 
ures 37  ft.  8  in.  in  height,  and  the  uppermost  one  29  ft.  2  in. 

It  was  entirely  constructed  of  limestone  from  neighboring 
mountains.  The  blocks  are  small  and  badly  cut,  the  stone 
courses  being  concave,  to  offer  a  better  resistance  to  downward 
thrust  and  to  shocks  of  earthquake.  When  breaches  in  the 
masonry  are  examined,  it  can  be  seen  that  the  external  surface 
of  the  steps  has,  as  it  were,  a  double  stone  facing,  each  facing 
being  carefully  dressed.  The  body  of  the  pyramid  is  solid,  the 
chambers  being  cut  in  the  rock  beneath.  These  chambers 
have  often  been  enlarged,  restored,  and  reworked  in  the  course 
of  centuries,  and  the  passages  which  connect  them  form  a  per- 
fect labyrinth  into  which  it  is  dangerous  to  venture  without  a 
guide.  The  columned  porch,  the  galleries  and  halls,  all  lead  to 
a  sort  of  enormous  shaft,  at  the  bottom  of  which  the  architect 
had  contrived  a  hiding-place,  destined,  no  doubt,  to  contain  the 
more  precious  objects  of  the  funerary  furniture.  Until  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century  the  vault  had  preserved  its  original  lin- 
ing of  glazed  pottery.  Three  quarters  of  the  wall  surface  was 
covered  with  green  tiles,  oblong  and  lightly  convex  on  the  outer 
side,  but  flat  on  the  inner:  a  square  projection  pierced  with  a 
hole  served  to  fix  them  at  the  back  in  a  horizontal  line  by 
means  of  flexible  wooden  rods.  Three  bands  which  frame  one 


DAWN   OF  CIVILIZATION  13 

of  the  doors  are  inscribed  with  the  titles  of  the  Pharaoh.  The 
hieroglyphs  are  raised  in  either  blue,  red,  green,  or  yellow,  on  a 
fawn-colored  ground. 

The  towns,  palaces,  temples,  all  the  buildings  which  princes 
and  kings  had  constructed  to  be  witnesses  of  their  power  or 
piety  to  future  generations,  have  disappeared  in  the  course  of 
ages,  under  the  feet  and  before  the  triumphal  blasts  of  many 
invading  hosts :  the  pyramid  alone  has  survived,  and  the  most 
ancient  of  the  historic  monuments  of  Egypt  is  a  tomb. 


COMPILATION  OF  THE  EARLIEST  CODE 

B.C.   2250 

HAMMURABI 

The  foundation  of  all  law-making  in  Babylon»a  from  about  the  miodle 
of  the  twenty-third  century  B.C.  to  the  fall  of  the  empire  was  the  code  of 
Hammurabi,  the  first  king  of  all  Babylonia.  He  expelled  invaders  from 
his  dominions,  cemented  the  union  of  north  and  south  Babylonia,  made 
Babylon  the  capital,  and  thus  consolidated  an  empire  which  endured  for 
almost  twenty  centuries.  The  code  which  he  compiled  is  the  oldest 
known  in  history,  older  by  nearly  a  thousand  years  than  the  Mosaic,  and 
of  earlier  date  than  the  so-called  Laws  of  Manu.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
important  historical  landmarks  in  existence,  a  document  which  gives  us 
knowledge  not  otherwise  furnished  of  the  country  and  people,  the  civili- 
zation and  life  of  a  great  centre  of  human  action  hitherto  almost  hidden 
in  obscurity.  Hammurabi,  who  is  supposed  to  be  identical  with  Amra 
phel,  a  contemporary  of  Abraham,  is  regarded  as  having  certainly  contrib- 
uted through  his  laws  to  the  Hebrew  traditions.  The  discovery  of  this 
code  has,  therefore,  a  special  value  in  relation  to  biblical  studies,  upon 
which  so  many  other  important  side-lights  have  recently  been  thrown. 

The  discovery  was  made  at  Susa,  Persia,  in  December  and  January, 
1901-2,  by  M.  de  Morgan's  French  excavating  expedition.  The  monu- 
ment on  which  the  laws  are  inscribed,  a  stele  of  black  diorite  nearly 
eight  feet  high,  has  been  fully  described  by  Assyriologists,  and  the  in- 
scription transcribed.  It  has  been  completely  translated  by  Dr.  Hugo 
Winckler,  whose  translation  (in  Die  Gesetze  Hammurabis,  Band  IV, 
Heft  4,  of  Der  Alte  Orient)  furnishes  the  basis  of  the  version  herewith 
presented.  Following  an  autobiographic  preface,  the  text  of  the  code 
contains  two  hundred  and  eighty  edicts  and  an  epilogue.  To  readers  of 
the  code  who  are  familiar  with  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  many  biblical 
parallels  will  occur. 


HEN  Anu  the  Sublime,  king  of  the  Anunaki,  and  Bel 
[god  of  the  earth],  the  Lord  of  Heaven  and  earth,  who 
decreed  the  fate  of  the  land,  assigned  to  Marduk  [or  Merodach, 
the  great  god  of  Babylon]  the  over-ruling  son  of  Ea  [god  of  the 
waters],  God  of  righteousness,  dominion  over  earthly  man,  and 
made  him  great  among  the  Igigi,  they  called  Babylon  by  his 

«4 


COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE         15 

illustrious  name,  made  it  great  on  earth,  and  founded  an  ever- 
lasting kingdom  in  it  [Babylon],  whose  foundations  are  laid  so 
solidly  as  those  of  heaven  and  earth ;  then  Anu  and  Bel  called  by 
name  me,  Hammurabi,  the  exalted  prince,  who  feared  God,  to 
bring  about  the  rule  of  righteousness  in  the  land,  to  destroy  the 
wicked  and  the  evil-doers ;  so  that  the  strong  should  not  harm 
the  weak;  so  that  I  should  rule  over  the  black-headed  people 
like  Shamash  [the  sun-god],  and  enlighten  the  land,  to  further 
the  well-being  of  mankind, 

Hammurabi,  the  prince,  called  of  Bel  am  I,  making  riches 
and  increase,  enriching  Nippur  and  Dur-ilu  beyond  compare, 
sublime  patron  of  E-kur  [temple  of  Bel  in  Nippur,  the  seat  of 
Bel's  worship] ;  who  reestablished  Eridu  and  purified  the  wor- 
ship of  E-apsu  [temple  of  Ea,  at  Eridu,  the  chief  seat  of  Ea's 
worship] ;  who  conquered  the  four  quarters  of  the  world,  made 
great  the  name  of  Babylon,  rejoiced  the  heart  of  Marduk,  his 
lord  who  daily  pays  his  devotions  in  Saggil  [Marduk's  temple 
in  Babylon] ;  the  royal  scion  whom  Sin  made ;  who  enriched  Ur 
[Abraham's  birthplace,  the  seat  of  the  worship  of  Sin,  the 
moon-god] ;  the  humble,  the  reverent,  who  brings  wealth  to 
Gish-shir-gal ;  the  white  king,  heard  of  Shamash,  the  mighty, 
who  again  laid  the  foundations  of  Sippana  [seat  of  worship  of 
Shamash  and  his  wife,  Malkat] ;  who  clothed  the  gravestones 
of  Malkat  with  green  [symbolizing  the  resurrection  of  nature] ; 
who  made  E-babbar  [temple  of  the  sun  in  Sippara]  great,  which 
is  like  the  heavens ;  the  warrior  who  guarded  Larsa  and  re- 
newed E-babbar  [temple  of  the  sun  in  Larsa,  biblical  Elassar, 
in  Southern  Babylonia],  with  Shamash  as  his  helper;  the  lord 
who  granted  new  life  to  Uruk  [biblical  Erech],  who  brought 
plenteous  water  to  its  inhabitants,  raised  the  head  of  E-anna 
[temple  of  Ishtar-Nana  at  Uruk],  and  perfected  the  beauty  of 
Anu  and  Nana;  shield  of  the  land,  who  reunited  the  scattered 
inhabitants  of  Isin ;  who  richly  endowed  E-gal-mach  [temple 
of  Isin] ;  the  protecting  king  of  the  city,  brother  of  the  god 
Zamama  [god  of  Kish] ;  who  firmly  founded  the  farms  of  Kish, 
crowned  E-me-te-ursag  [sister  city  of  Kish]  with  glory,  re- 
doubled the  great  holy  treasures  of  Nana,  managed  the  temple 
of  Harsag-kalama  [temple  of  Nergal  at  Cuthah] ;  the  grave  of 
the  enemy,  whose  help  brought  about  the  victory;  who  in- 


16         COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

creased  the  power  of  Cuthah;  made  all  glorious  in  E-shidlam 
[a  temple],  the  black  steer  [title  of  Marduk]  who  gored  the 
enemy;  beloved  of  the  god  Nebo,  who  rejoiced  the  inhabitants 
of  Borsippa,  the  Sublime ;  who  is  indefatigable  for  E-zida  [tem- 
ple of  Nebo  in  Babylon];  the  divine  king  of  the  city;  the 
White,  Wise;  who  broadened  the  fields  of  Dilbat,  who  heaped 
up  the  harvests  for  Urash ;  the  Mighty,  the  lord  to  whom  come 
sceptre  and  crown,  with  which  he  clothes  himself;  the  Elect 
of  Ma-ma;  who  fixed  the  temple  bounds  of  Kesh,  who  made 
rich  the  holy  feasts  of  Nin-tu  [goddess  of  Kesh] ;  the  provi- 
dent, solicitous,  who  provided  food  and  drink  for  Lagash  and 
Girsu,  who  provided  large  sacrificial  offerings  for  the  temple 
of  Ningirsu  [at  Lagash] ;  who  captured  the  enemy,  the  Elect 
of  the  oracle  who  fulfilled  the  prediction  of  Hallab,  who  re- 
joiced the  heart  of  Anunit  [whose  oracle  had  predicted  vic- 
tory] ;  the  pure  prince,  whose  prayer  is  accepted  by  Adad  [god 
of  Hallab,  with  goddess  Anunit] ;  who  satisfied  the  heart  of 
Adad,  the  warrior,  in  Karkar,  who  restored  the  vessels  for 
worship  in  E-ud-gal-gal ;  the  king  who  granted  life  to  the  city 
of  Adab ;  the  guide  of  E-mach ;  the  princely  king  of  the  city, 
the  irresistible  warrior,  who  granted  life  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Mashkanshabri,  and  brought  abundance  to  the  temple  of  Shid- 
lam ;  the  White,  Potent,  who  penetrated  the  secret  cave  of  the 
bandits,  saved  the  inhabitants  of  Malka  from  misfortune,  and 
fixed  their  home  fast  in  wealth ;  who  established  pure  sacrifi- 
cial gifts  for  Ea  and  Dam-gal-nun-na,  who  made  his  kingdom 
everlastingly  great;  the  princely  king  of  the  city,  who  sub- 
jected the  districts  on  the  Ud-kib-nun-na  Canal  [Euphrates  ?] 
to  the  sway  of  Dagon,  his  Creator;  who  spared  the  inhabitants 
of  Mera  and  Tutul ;  the  sublime  prince,  who  makes  the  face  of 
Ninni  shine ;  who  presents  holy  meals  to  the  divinity  of  Nin- 
a-zu,  who  cared  for  its  inhabitants  in  their  need,  provided  a 
portion  for  them  in  Babylon  in  peace ;  the  shepherd  of  the  op- 
pressed and  of  the  slaves;  whose  deeds  find  favor  before 
Anunit,  who  provided  for  Anunit  in  the  temple  of  Dumash  in 
the  suburb  of  Agade;  who  recognizes  the  right,  who  rules  by 
law;  who  gave  back  to  the  city  of  Assur  its  protecting  god; 
who  let  the  name  of  Istar  of  Nineveh  remain  in  E-mish-mish; 
the  Sublime,  who  humbles  himself  before  the  great  gods;  sue- 


COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST  CODE          17 

cessor  of  Sumula-il ;  the  mighty  son  of  Sin-muballit ;  the  royal 
scion  of  Eternity ;  the  mighty  monarch,  the  sun  of  Babylon, 
whose  rays  shed  light  over  the  land  of  Sumer  and  Akkad ;  the 
king,  obeyed  by  the  four  quarters  of  the  world;  Beloved  of 
Ninni,  am  I. 

When  Marduk  sent  me  to  rule  over  men,  to  give  the  pro- 
tection of  right  to  the  land,  I  did  right  and  righteousness 
in ,  and  brought  about  the  well-being  of  the  oppressed. 

CODE  OF   LAWS 

1.  If  any  one  ensnare  another,  putting  a  ban  upon  him,  but 
he  cannot  prove  it,  then  he  that  ensnared  him  shall  be  put  to 
death. 

2.  If  any  one  bring  an  accusation  against  a  man,  and  the 
accused  go  to  the  river  and  leap  into  the  river,  if  he  sink  in 
the  river  his  accuser  shall  take  possession  of  his  house.    But 
if  the  river  prove  that  the  accused  is  not  guilty,  and  he  escape 
unhurt,  then  he  who  had  brought  the  accusation  shall  be  put 
to  death,  while  he  who  leaped  into  the  river  shall  take  posses- 
sion of  the  house  that  had  belonged  to  his  accuser. 

3.  If  any  one  bring  an  accusation  of  any  crime  before  the 
elders,  and  does  not  prove  what  he  has  charged,  he  shall,  if  it 
be  a  capital  offence  charged,  be  put  to  death. 

4.  If  he  satisfy  the  elders  to  impose  a  fine  of  grain  or 
money,  he  shall  receive  the  fine  that  the  action  produces. 

5.  If  a  judge  try  a  case,  reach  a  decision  and  present  his 
judgment  in  writing;  if  later  error  shall  appear  in  his  decision, 
and  it  be  through  his  own  fault,  then  he  shall  pay  twelve  times 
the  fine  set  by  him  in  the  case,  and  he  shall  be  publicly  re- 
moved from  the  judge's  bench,  and  never  again  shall  he  sit 
there  to  render  judgment. 

6.  If  any  one  steal  the  property  of  a  temple  or  of  the  court, 
he  shall  be  put  to  death,  and  also  the  one  who  receives  the 
stolen  thing  from  him  shall  be  put  to  death 

7.  If  any  one  buy  from  the  son  or  the  slave  of  another  man, 
without  witnesses  or  a  contract,  silver  or  gold,  a  male  or  female 
slave,  an  ox  or  a  sheep,  an  ass  or  anything,  or  if  he  take  it  in 
charge,  he  is  considered  a  thief  and  shall  be  put  to  death. 

E.,  VOL.  i. — « 


18         COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST  CODE 

8.  If  any  one  steal  cattle  or  sheep,  or  an  ass,  or  a  pig  or  a 
goat,  if  it  belong  to  a  god  or  to  the  court,  the  thief  shall  pay 
thirtyfold  therefor;  if  they  belonged  to  a  freed  man  (of  the 
king)  he  shall  pay  tenfold ;  if  the  thief  has  nothing  with  which 
to  pay  he  shall  be  put  to  death. 

9.  If  any  one  lose  an  article,  and  find  it  in  the  possession 
of  another :  if  the  person  in  whose  possession  the  thing  is  found 
say  "A  merchant  sold  it  to  me,  I  paid  for  it  before  witnesses," 
and  if  the  owner  of  the  thing  say  "  I  will  bring  witnesses  who 
know  my  property,"  then  shall  the  purchaser  bring  the  mer- 
chant who  sold  it  to  him,  and  the  witnesses  before  whom  he 
bought  it,  and  the  owner  shall  bring  witnesses  who  can  iden- 
tify his  property.    The  judge  shall  examine  their  testimony — 
both  of  the  witnesses  before  whom  the  price  was  paid,  and  of 
the  witnesses  who  identify  the  lost  article  on  oath.    The  mer- 
chant is  then  proven  to  be  a  thief  and  shall  be  put  to  death. 
The  owner  of  the  lost  article  receives  his  property,  and  he  who 
bought  it  receives  the  money  he  paid  from  the  estate  of  the 
merchant. 

10.  If  the  purchaser  does  not  bring  the  merchant  and  the 
witnesses  before  whom  he  bought  the  article,  but  its  owner 
bring  witnesses  who  identify  it,  then  the  buyer  is  the  thief  and 
shall  be  put  to  death,  and  the  owner  receives  the  lost  article. 

11.  If  the  owner  do  not  bring  witnesses  to  identify  the  lost 
article,  he  is  an  evil-doer,  he  has  traduced,  and  shall  be  put  to 
death. 

12.  If  the  witnesses  be  not  at  hand,  then  shall  the  judge 
set  a  limit,  at  the  expiration  of  six  months.     If  his  witnesses 
have  not  appeared  within  the  six  months,  he  is  an  evil-doer, 
and  shall  bear  the  fine  of  the  pending  case. 

14.  If  any  one  steal  the  minor  son  of  another,  he  shall  be 
put  to  death. 

15.  If  any  one  take  a  male  or  female  slave  of  the  court,  or 
a  male  or  female  slave  of  a  freed  man,  outside  the  city  gates, 
he  shall  be  put  to  death. 

16.  If  any  one  receive  into  his  house  a  runaway  male  or 
female  slave  of  the  court,  or  of  a  freedman,  and  does  not  bring 
it  out  at  the  public  proclamation  of  the  major  domus,  the  mas- 
ter of  the  house  shall  be  put  to  death. 


COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE          19 

17.  If  any  one  find  a  runaway  male  or  female  slave  in  the 
open  country  and  bring  them  to  their  masters,  the  master  of 
the  slaves  shall  pay  him  two  shekels  of  silver. 

1 8.  If  the  slave  will  not  give  the  name  of  the  master,  the 
finder  shall  bring  him  to  the  palace ;  a  further  investigation 
must  follow  and  the  slave  shall  be  returned  to  his  master. 

19.  If  he  hold  the  slaves  in  his  house,  and  they  are  caught 
there,  he  shall  be  put  to  death. 

20.  If  the  slave  that  he  caught  run  away  from  him,  then 
shall  he  swear  to  the  owners  of  the  slave,  and  he  is  free  of  all 
blame. 

21.  If  any  one  break  a  hole  into  a  house  [break  in  to  steal], 
he  shall  be  put  to  death  before  that  hole  and  be  buried. 

22.  If  any  one  is  committing  a  robbery  and  is  caught,  then 
he  shall  be  put  to  death. 

23.  If  the  robber  is  not  caught,  then  shall  he  who  was 
robbed  claim  under  oath  the  amount  of  his  loss ;  then  shall  the 

community,  and on  whose  ground  and  territory  and  in 

whose  domain  it  was  compensate  him  for  the  goods  stolen. 

24.  If  persons  are  stolen,  then  shall  the  community  and 
....  pay  one  mina  of  silver  to  their  relatives. 

25  .  If  fire  break  out  in  a  house,  and  some  one  who  comes 
to  put  it  out,  cast  his  eye  upon  the  property  of  the  owner  of 
the  house,  and  take  the  property  of  the  master  of  the  house, 
he  shall  be  thrown  into  that  self-same  fire. 

26.  If  a  chieftain  or  a  man  [common  soldier],  who  has  been 
ordered  to  go  upon  the  king's  highway  [for  war]  does  not  go, 
but  hires  a  mercenary,  if  he  withholds  the  compensation,  then 
shall  this  officer  or  man  be  put  to  death,  and  he  who  repre- 
sented him  shall  take  possession  of  his  house. 

27.  If  a  chieftain  or  man  be  caught  in  the  misfortune  of  the 
king  [captured  in  battle],  and  if  his  fields  and  garden  be  given 
to  another  and  he  take  possession,  if  he  return  and  reaches 
his  place,  his  field  and  garden  shall  be  returned  to  him,  he  shall 
take  it  over  again. 

28.  If  a  chieftain  or  a  man  be  caught  in  the  misfortune  of 
a  king,  if  his  son  is  able  to  enter  into  possession,  then  the  field 
and  garden  shall  be  given  to  him,  he  shall  take  over  the  fee  of 
his  father. 


20         COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

29.  If  his  son  is  still  young,  and  cannot  take  possession,  a 
third  of  the  field  and  garden  shall  be  given  to  his  mother,  and 
she  shall  bring  him  up. 

30.  If  a  chieftain  or  a  man  leave  his  house,  garden  and  field 
and  hires  it  out,  and  some  one  else  takes  possession  of  his 
house,  garden  and  field  and  uses  it  for  three  years :  if  the  first 
owner  return  and  claims  his  house,  garden  and  field,  it  shall 
not  be  given  to  him,  but  he  who  has  taken  possession  of  it  and 
used  it  shall  continue  to  use  it. 

31.  If  he  hire  it  out  for  one  year  and  then  return,  the  house, 
garden  and  field  shall  be  given  back  to  him,  and  he  shall  take 
it  over  again. 

32.  If  a  chieftain  or  a  man  is  captured  on  the  "  Way  of  the 
King"  [in  war],  and  a  merchant  buy  him  free,  and  bring  him 
back  to  his  place ;  if  he  have  the  means  in  his  house  to  buy  his 
freedom,  he  shall  buy  himself  free :  if  he  have  nothing  in  his 
house  with  which  to  buy  himself  free,  he  shall  be  bought  free 
by  the  temple  of  his  community ;  if  there  be  nothing  in  the 
temple  with  which  to  buy  him  free,  the  court  shall  buy  his 
freedom.    His  field,  garden  and  house  shall  not  be  given  for 
the  purchase  of  his  freedom. 

33.  If  a or  a [from  the  connection,  some 

man  higher  in  rank  than  a  chieftain]  enter  himself  as  with- 
drawn from  the  "  Way  of  the  King,"  and  send  a  mercenary  as 
substitute,  but  withdraw  him,  then  the  ...     .  or      .     .  . 
shall  be  put  to  death. 

34-  If  a [same  as  in  33]  or  a  ...  .  .  harm  the 

property  of  a  captain,  injure  the  captain,  or  take  away  from  the 
captain  a  gift  presented  to  him  by  the  king  then  the  ....  or 
....  shall  be  put  to  death. 

35.  If  any  one  buy  the  cattle  or  sheep  which  the  king  has 
given  to  chieftains  from  him  he  loses  his  money. 

35.  The  field,  garden  and  house  of  a  chieftain,  of  a  man,  or 
of  one  subject  to  quit-rent,  cannot  be  sold. 

^  37.  If  any  one  buy  the  field,  garden  and  house  of  a  chief- 
tain, man  or  one  subject  to  quit-rent,  his  contract  tablet  of  sale 
shall  be  broken  [declared  invalid]  and  he  loses  his  money. 
The  field,  garden  and  house  return  to  their  owners. 

38.  A  chieftain,  man  or  one  subject  to  quit-rent  cannot  as- 


COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST  CODE         21 

sign  his  tenure  of  field,  house  and  garden  to  his  wife  or  daugh- 
ter, nor  can  he  assign  it  for  a  debt. 

39.  He  may,  however,  assign  a  field,  garden  or  house  which 
he  has  bought,  and  holds  as  property,  to  his  wife  or  daughter 
or  give  it  for  debt. 

40.  He  may  sell  field,  garden  and  house  to  a  merchant 
[royal  agents]  or  to  any  other  public  official,  the  buyer  holding 
field,  house  and  garden  for  its  usufruct. 

41.  If  any  one  fence  in  the  field,  garden  and  house  of  a 
chieftain,  man  or  one  subject  to  quit-rent,  furnishing  the  pal- 
ings therefor;  if  the  chieftain,  man  or  one  subject  to  quit-rent 
return  to  field,  garden  and  house,  the  palings  which  were  given 
to  him  become  his  property. 

42.  If  any  one  take  over  a  field  to  till  it,  and  obtain  no  har- 
vest therefrom,  it  must  be  proved  that  he  did  no  work  on  the 
field,  and  he  must  deliver  grain,  just  as  his  neighbor  raised,  to 
the  owner  of  the  field. 

43.  If  he  do  not  till  the  field,  but  let  it  lie  fallow,  he  shall 
give  grain  like  his  neighbor's  to  the  owner  of  the  field,  and  the 
field  which  he  let  lie  fallow  he  must  plow  and  sow  and  return 
to  its  owner. 

44.  If  any  one  take  over  a  waste-lying  field  to  make  it  ara- 
ble, but  is  lazy,  and  does  not  make  it  arable,  he  shall  plow  the 
fallow  field  in  the  fourth  year,  harrow  it  and  till  it,  and  give  it 
back  to  its  owner  and  for  each  ten  gan  [a  measure  of  area]  ten 
gur  [dry  measure]  of  grain  shall  be  paid. 

45.  If  a  man  rent  his  field  for  tillage  for  a  fixed  rental,  and 
receive  the  rent  of  his  field,  but  bad  weather  come  and  destroy 
the  harvest,  the  injury  falls  upon  the  tiller  of  the  soil. 

46.  If  he  do  not  receive  a  fixed  rental  for  his  field,  but  lets 
it  on  half  or  third  shares  of  the  harvest,  the  grain  on  the  field 
shall  be  divided  proportionately  between  the  tiller  and  the 
owner. 

47.  If  the  tiller,  because  he  did  not  succeed  in  the  first 
year,  has  had  the  soil  tilled  by  others,  the  owner  may  raise  no 
objection;  the  field  has  been  cultivated  and  he  receives  the 
harvest  according  to  agreement. 

48.  If  any  one  owe  a  debt  for  a  loan,  and  a  storm  prostrates 
the  grain,  or  the  harvest  fail,  or  the  grain  does  not  grow  for 


22          COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE 

lack  of  water;  in  that  year  he  need  not  give  his  creditor  any 
grain,  he  washes  his  debt-tablet  in  water  [a  symbolic  action 
indicating  the  inability  to  pay]  and  pays  no  rent  for  this 
year. 

49.  If  any  one  take  money  from  a  merchant,  and  give  the 
merchant  a  field  tillable  for  corn  or  sesame  and  order  him  to 
plant  corn  or  sesame  in  the  field,  and  to  harvest  the  crop ;  if 
the  cultivator  plant  corn  or  sesame  in  the  field,  at  the  harvest 
the  corn  or  sesame  that  is  in  the  field  shall  belong  to  the  owner 
of  the  field  and  he  shall  pay  corn  as  rent,  for  the  money  he  re- 
ceived from  the  merchant,  and  the  livelihood  of  the  cultivator 
shall  he  give  to  the  merchant. 

50.  If  he  give  a  cultivated  corn-field  or  a  cultivated  sesame- 
field,  the  corn  or  sesame  in  the  field  shall  belong  to  the  owner 
of  the  field,  and  he  shall  return  the  money  to  the  merchant  as 
rent. 

51.  If  he  have  no  money  to  repay,  then  he  shall  pay  in  corn 
or  sesame  in  place  of  the  money  as  rent  for  what  he  received 
from  the  merchant,  according  to  the  royal  tariff. 

52.  If  the  cultivator  do  not  plant  corn  or  sesame  in  the 
field,  the  debtor's  contract  is  not  weakened. 

53.  If  any  one  be  too  lazy  to  keep  his  dam  in  proper  condi- 
tion, and  does  not  so  keep  it ;  if  then  the  dam  break  and  all  the 
fields  be  flooded,  then  shall  he  in  whose  dam  the  break  occurred 
be  sold  for  money,  and  the  money  shall  replace  the  corn  which 
he  has  caused  to  be  ruined. 

54.  If  he  be  not  able  to  replace  the  corn,  then  he  and  his 
possessions  shall  be  divided  among  the  farmers  whose  corn  he 
has  flooded. 

55.  If  any  one  open  his  ditches  to  water  his  crop,  but  is 
careless,  and  the  water  flood  the  field  of  his  neighbor,  then  he 
shall  pay  his  neighbor  corn  for  his  loss. 

56.  If  a  man  let  in  the  water,  and  the  water  overflow  the 
plantation  of  his  neighbor,  he  shall  pay  ten  gur  of  corn  for 
every  ten  gan  of  land. 

57-  If  a  shepherd,  without  the  permission  of  the  owner  of 

ield,  and  without  the  knowledge  of  the  owner  of  the  sheep, 

ets  the  sheep  into  a  field  to  graze,  then  the  owner  of  the  field 

shall  harvest  his  crop,  and  the  shepherd,  who  had  pastured  his 


COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE         23 

flock  there  without  permission  of  the  owner  of  the  field,  shall 
pay  to  the  owner  twenty  gur  of  corn  for  every  ten  gan. 

58.  If  after  the  flocks  have  left  the  pasture  and  been  shut 
up  in  the  common  fold  at  the  city  gate,  any  shepherd  let  them 
into  a  field  and  they  graze  there,  this  shepherd  shall  take 
possession  of  the  field  which  he  has  allowed  to  be  grazed  on, 
and  at  the  harvest  he  must  pay  sixty  gur  of  corn  for  every  ten 
gan. 

59.  If  any  man,  without  the  knowledge  of  the  owner  of  a 
garden,  fell  a  tree  in  a  garden  he  shall  pay  half  a  mina  in 
money. 

60.  If  any  one  give  over  a  field  to  a  gardener,  for  him  to 
plant  it  as  a  garden,  if  he  work  at  it,  and  care  for  it  for  four 
years,  in  the  fifth  year  the  owner  and  the  gardener  shall  divide 
it,  the  owner  taking  his  part  in  charge. 

61.  If  the  gardener  has  not  completed  the  planting  of  the 
field,  leaving  one  part  unused,  this  shall  be  assigned  to  him  as 
his. 

62.  If  he  do  not  plant  the  field  that  was  given  over  to  him 
as  a  garden,  if  it  be  arable  land  [for  corn  or  sesame]  the  gar- 
dener shall  pay  the  owner  the  produce  of  the  field  for  the  years 
that  he  let  it  lie  fallow,  according  to  the  product  of  neighbor- 
ing fields,  put  the  field  in  arable  condition  and  return  it  to  its 
owner. 

63.  If  he  transform  waste  land  into  arable  fields  and  return 
it  to  its  owner,  the  latter  shall  pay  him  for  one  year  ten  gur  for 
ten  gan. 

64.  If  any  one  hand  over  his  garden  to  a  gardener  to  work, 
the  gardener  shall  pay  to  its  owner  two-thirds  of  the  produce  of 
the  garden,  for  so  long  as  he  has  it  in  possession,  and  the  other 
third  shall  he  keep. 

65.  If  the  gardener  do  not  work  in  the  garden  and  the  prod- 
uct fall  off,  the  gardener  shall  pay  in  proportion  to  other  neigh- 
boring gardens. 

[Here  a  portion  of  the  text  is  missing,  apparently  compris- 
ing thirty-five  paragraphs.] 

100.  .  .  .  interest  for  the  money,  as  much  as  he  has  re- 
ceived, he  shall  give  a  note  therefor,  and  on  the  day,  when 
they  settle,  pay  to  the  merchant. 


24          COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE 

101.  If  there  are  no  mercantile  arrangements  in  the 
place  whither  he  went,  he  shall  leave  the  entire  amount  of 
money  which  he  received  with  the  broker  to  give  to  the 

merchant. 

102.  If  a  merchant  intrust  money  to  an  agent  [broker]  for 
some  investment,  and  the  broker  surfer  a  loss  in  the  place  to 
which  he  goes,  he  shall  make  good  the  capital  to  the  merchant. 

103.  If,  while  on  the  journey,  an  enemy  take  away  from 
him  anything  that  he  had,  the  broker  shall  swear  by  God  [take 
an  oath]  and  be  free  of  obligation. 

104.  If  a  merchant  give  an  agent  corn,  wool,  oil  or  any 
other  goods  to  transport,  the  agent  shall  give  a  receipt  for  the 
amount,  and  compensate  the  merchant  therefor.    Then  he 
shall  obtain  a  receipt  from  the  merchant  for  the  money  that 
he  gives  the  merchant. 

105.  If  the  agent  is  careless,  and  does  not  take  a  receipt 
for  the  money  which  he  gave  the  merchant,  he  cannot  consider 
the  unreceipted  money  as  his  own. 

106.  If  the  agent  accept  money  from  the  merchant,  but 
have  a  quarrel  with  the  merchant  [denying  the  receipt],  then 
shall  the  merchant  swear  before  God  and  witnesses  that  he  has 
given  this  money  to  the  agent,  and  the  agent  shall  pay  him 
three  times  the  sum. 

107.  If  the  merchant  cheat  the  agent,  in  that  as  the  latter 
has  returned  to  him  all  that  had  been  given  him,  but  the  mer- 
chant denies  the  receipt  of  what  had  been  returned  to  him, 
then  shall  this  agent  convict  the  merchant  before  God  and  the 
judges,  and  if  he  still  deny  receiving  what  the  agent  had  given 
him  shall  pay  six  times  the  sum  to  the  agent. 

108.  If  a  tavern-keeper  [feminine]  does  not  accept  corn  ac- 
cording to  gross  weight  in  payment  of  drink,  but  takes  money, 
and  the  price  of  the  drink  is  less  than  that  of  the  corn,  she  shall 
be  convicted  and  thrown  into  the  water. 

109.  If  conspirators  meet  in  the  house  of  a  tavern-keeper, 
and  these  conspirators  are  not  captured  and  delivered  to  the 
court,  the  tavern-keeper  shall  be  put  to  death. 

1 10.  If  a  "  sister  of  a  god "  [one  devoted  to  the  temple] 
open  a  tavern,  or  enter  a  tavern  to  drink,  then  shall  this  woman 
be  burned  to  death. 


COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE  25 

in.  If  an  inn-keeper  furnish  sixty  ka  of  usakani-dnnk 
to  ....  she  shall  receive  fifty  ka  of  corn  at  the  harvest. 

112.  If  any  one  be  on  a  journey  and  intrust  silver,  gold, 
precious  stones,  or  any  movable  property  to  another,  and  wish 
to  recover  it  from  him;   if  the  latter  do  not  bring  all  of  the 
property  to  the  appointed  place,  but  appropriate  it  to  his  own 
use,  then  shall  this  man,  who  did  not  bring  the  property  to 
hand  it  over  be  convicted,  and  he  shall  pay  fivefold  for  all 
that  had  been  intrusted  to  him. 

113.  If  any  one  have  a  consignment  of  corn  or  money,  and 
he  take  from  the  granary  or  box,  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
owner,  then  shall  he  who  took  corn  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  owner  out  of  the  granary  or  money  out  of  the  box  be 
legally  convicted,  and  repay  the  corn  he  has  taken.     And  he 
shall  lose  whatever  commission  was  paid  to  him,  or  due  him. 

114.  If  a  man  have  no  claim  on  another  for  corn  and 
money,  and  try  to  demand  it  by  force,  he  shall  pay  one-third 
of  a  mina  of  silver  in  every  case. 

115.  If  any  one  have  a  claim  for  corn  or  money  upon  an- 
other and  imprison  him;  if  the  prisoner  die  in  prison  a  natural 
death,  the  case  shall  go  no  further. 

116.  If  the  prisoner  die  in  prison  from  blows  or  maltreat- 
ment, the  master  of  the  prisoner  shall  convict  the  merchant 
before  the  judge.     If  he  was  a  free-born  man,  the  son  of  the 
merchant  shall  be  put  to  death ;  if  it  was  a  slave,  he  shall  pay 
one-third  of  a  mina  of  gold,  and  all  that  the  master  of  the 
prisoner  gave  he  shall  forfeit. 

117.  If  any  one  fail  to  meet  a  claim  for  debt,  and  sell  him- 
self, his  wife,  his  son  and  daughter  for  money  or  give  them 
away  to  forced  labor:   they  shall  work  for  three  years  in  the 
house  of  the  man  who  bought  them  or  the  proprietor  and  in 
the  fourth  year  they  shall  be  set  free. 

1 1 8.  If  he  give  a  male  or  female  slave  away  for  forced 
labor,  and  the  merchant  sublease  them,  or  sell  them  for  money, 
no  objection  can  be  raised. 

119.  If  any  one  fail  to  meet  a  claim  for  debt,  and  he  sell 
the  maid  servant  who  has  borne  him  children,  for  money,  the 
money  which  the  merchant  has  paid  shall  be  repaid  to  him  by 
the  owner  of  the  slave  and  she  shall  be  freed. 


26         COMPILATION  OF   EARLIEST  CODE 

120.  If  any  one  store  corn  for  safe  keeping  in  another  per- 
son's house,  and  any  harm  happen  to  the  corn  in  storage,  or  if 
the  owner  of  the  house  open  the  granary  and  take  some  of  the 
corn,  or  if  especially  he  deny  that  the  corn  was  stored  in  his 
house :  then  the  owner  of  the  corn  shall  claim  his  corn  before 
God  [on  oath],  and  the  owner  of  the  house  shall  pay  its  owner 
for  all  of  the  corn  that  he  took.. 

121.  If  any  one  store  corn  in  another  man's  house  he  shall 
pay  him  storage  at  the  rate  of  one  gur  for  every  five  ka  of  corn 
per  year, 

122.  If  any  one  give  another  silver,  gold  or  anything  else  to 
keep,  he  shall  show  everything  to  some  witness,  draw  up  a  con- 
tract, and  then  hand  it  over  for  safe  keeping. 

123.  If  he  turn  it  over  for  safe  keeping  without  witness  or 
contract,  and  if  he  to  whom  it  was  given  deny  it,  then  he  has 
no  legitimate  claim. 

124.  If  any  one  deliver  silver,  gold  or  anything  else  to  an- 
other for  safe  keeping,  before  a  witness,  but  he  deny  it,  he 
shall  be  brought  before  a  judge,  and  all  that  he  has  denied  he 
shall  pay  in  full. 

125.  If  any  one  place  his  property  with  another  for  safe 
keeping,  and  there,  either  through  thieves  or  robbers,  his  prop- 
erty and  the  property  of  the  other  man  be  lost,  the  owner  of 
the  house,  through  whose  neglect  the  loss  took  place,  shall 
compensate  the  owner  for  all  that  was  given  to  him  in  charge. 
But  the  owner  of  the  house  shall  try  to  follow  up  and  recover 
his  property,  and  take  it  away  from  the  thief. 

126.  If  any  one  who  has  not  lost  his  goods,  state  that  they 
have  been  lost,  and  make  false  claims :  if  he  claim  his  goods 
and  amount  of  injury  before  God,  even  though  he  has  not  lost 
them,  he  shall  be  fully  compensated  for  all  his  loss  claimed  [i.e., 
the  oath  is  all  that  is  needed]. 

127.  If  any  one  point  the  finger  [slander]  at  a  sister  of  a 
god  or  the  wife  of  any  one,  and  cannot  prove  it,  this  man  shall 
be  taken  before  the  judges  and  his  brow  shall  be  marked  [by 
cutting  the  skin,  or  perhaps  hair]. 

128.  If  a  man  take  a  woman  to  wife,  but  have  no  inter- 
course with  her,  this  woman  is  no  wife  to  him. 

129.  If  a  man's  wife  be  surprised  with  another  man,  both 


COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE          27 

shall  be  tied  and  thrown  into  the  water,  but  the  husband  may 
pardon  his  wife  and  the  king  his  slaves. 

1 30.  If  a  man  violate  the  wife  [betrothed  or  child-wife]  of 
another  man,  who  has  never  known  a  man,  and  still  lives  in 
her  father's  house,  and  sleep  with  her  and  be  surprised,  this 
man  shall  be  put  to  death,  but  the  wife  is  blameless. 

131.  If  a  man  bring  a  charge  against  one's  wife,  but  she  is 
not  surprised  with  another  man  \delitflagrant  is  necessary  for 
divorce],  she  must  take  an  oath  and  then  may  return  to  her 
house. 

132.  If  the  "finger  is  pointed "  at  a  man's  wife  about  an- 
other man,  but  she  is  not  caught  sleeping  with  the  other  man, 
she  shall  jump  into  the  river  for  her  husband  [prove  her  inno- 
cence by  this  test]. 

133.  If  a  man  is  taken  prisoner  in  war,  and  there  is  a  sus- 
tenance in  his  house,  but  his  wife  leave  house  and  court,  and  go 
to  another  house :  because  this  wife  did  not  keep  her  court,  and 
went  to  another  house,  she  shall  be  judicially  condemned  and 
thrown  into  the  water. 

1 34.  If  any  one  be  captured  in  war  and  there  is  no  susten- 
ance in  his  house,  if  then  his  wife  go  to  another  house,  this 
woman  shall  be  held  blameless. 

135.  If  a  man  be  taken  prisoner  in  war  and  there  be  no  sus- 
tenance in  his  house  and  his  wife  go  to  another  house  and  bear 
children ;  and  if  later  her  husband  return  and  come  to  his  home : 
then  this  wife  shall  return  to  her  husband,  but  the  children  fol- 
low their  father. 

1 36.  If  any  one  leave  his  house,  run  away,  and  then  his  wife 
go  to  another  house,  if  then  he  return,  and  wishes  to  take  his 
wife  back :  because  he  fled  from  his  home  and  ran  away,  the 
wife  of  this  runaway  shall  not  return  to  her  husband. 

1 37.  If  a  man  wish  to  separate  from  a  woman  who  has  borne 
him  children,  or  from  his  wife  who  has  borne  him  children : 
then  he  shall  give  that  wife  her  dowry,  and  a  part  of  the  usu- 
fruct of  field,  garden  and  property,  so  that  she  can  rear  her 
children.     When  she  has  brought  up  her  children,  a  portion  of 
all  that  is  given  to  the  children,  equal  as  that  of  one  son,  shall 
be  given  to  her.     She  may  then  marry  the  man  of  her  heart. 

138.  If  a  man  wishes  to  separate  from  his  wife  who  has 


28         COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST   CODE 

borne  him  no  children,  he  shall  give  her  the  amount  of  her  pur. 
chase  money  [amount  formerly  paid  to  the  bride's  father]  and 
the  dowry  which  she  brought  from  her  father's  house,  and  let 

her  go. 

139.  If  there  was  no  purchase  price  he  shall  give  her  one 

mina  of  gold  as  a  gift  of  release. 

140.  If  he  be  a  freed  man  he  shall  give  her  one-third  of  a 
mina  of  gold. 

141.  If  a  man's  wife,  who  lives  in  his  house,  wishes  to  leave 
it,  plunges  into  debt,  tries  to  ruin  her  house,  neglects  her  hus- 
band, and  is  judicially  convicted:  if  her  husband  offer  her  re- 
lease, she  may  go  on  her  way,  and  he  gives  her  nothing  as  a 
gift  of  release.    If  her  husband  does  not  wish  to  release  her, 
and  if  he  take  another  wife,  she  shall  remain  as  servant  in  her 
husband's  house. 

142.  If  a  woman  quarrel  with  her  husband,  and  say :  "  You 
are  not  congenial  to  me,"  the  reasons  for  her  prejudice  must  be 
presented.    If  she  is  guiltless,  and  there  is  no  fault  on  her 
part,  but  he  leaves  and  neglects  her,  then  no  guilt  attaches  to 
this  woman,  she  shall  take  her  dowry  and  go  back  to  her 
father's  house. 

143.  If  she  is  not  innocent,  but  leaves  her  husband,  and 
ruins  her  house,  neglecting  her  husband,  this  woman  shall  be 
cast  into  the  water. 

144.  If  a  man  take  a  wife  and  this  woman  give  her  husband 
a  maid-servant,  and  she  bear  him  children,  but  this  man  wishes 
to  take  another  wife,  this  shall  not  be  permitted  to  him ;  he 
shall  not  take  a  second  wife. 

145.  If  a  man  take  a  wife,  and  she  bear  him  no  children, 
and  he  intend  to  take  another  wife :  if  he  take  this  second  wife, 
and  bring  her  into  the  house,  this  second  wife  shall  not  be  al- 
lowed equality  with  his  wife. 

146.  If  a  man  take  a  wife  and  she  give  this  man  a  maid 
servant  as  wife  and  she  bear  him  children,  and  then  this  maid- 
assume  equality  with  the  wife:  because  she  has  borne  him  chil- 
dren her  master  shall  not  sell  her  for  money,  but  he  may  keep 
her  as  a  slave,  reckoning  her  among  the  maid-servants. 

147-  If  she  have  not  borne  him  children,  then  her  mistress 
may  sell  her  for  money. 


COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE         29 

148.  If  a  man  take  a  wife,  and  she  be  seized  by  disease,  if 
he  then  desire  to  take  a  second  wife  he  shall  not  put  away  his 
wife,  who  has  been  attacked  by  disease,  but  he  shall  keep  her 
in  the  house  which  he  has  built  and  support  her  so  long  as  she 
lives. 

149.  If  this  woman  does  not  wish  to  remain  in  her  hus- 
band's house,  then  he  shall  compensate  her  for  the  dowry  that 
she  brought  with  her  from  her  father's  house,  and  she  may  go. 

150.  If  a  man  give  his  wife  a  field,  garden  and  house  and  a 
deed  therefor,  if  then  after  the  death  of  her  husband  the  sons 
raise  no  claim,  then  the  mother  may  bequeath  all  to  one  of  her 
sons  whom  she  prefers,  and  need  leave  nothing  to  his  brothers. 

151.  If  a  woman  who  lived  in  a  man's  house,  made  an  agree- 
ment with  her  husband,  that  no  creditor  can  arrest  her,  and 
has  given  a  document  therefor :  if  that  man,  before  he  married 
that  woman,  had  a  debt,  the  creditor  cannot  hold  the  woman 
for  it.     But  if  the  woman,  before  she  entered  the  man's  house, 
had  contracted  a  debt,  her  creditor  cannot  arrest  her  husband 
therefor. 

152.  If  after  the  woman  had  entered  the  man's  house,  both 
contracted  a  debt,  both  must  pay  the  merchant. 

153.  If  the  wife  of  one  man  on  account  of  another  man  has 
their  mates  [her  husband  and  the  other  man's  wife]  murdered, 
both  of  them  shall  be  impaled. 

154.  If  a  man  be  guilty  of  incest  with  his  daughter,  he  shall 
be  driven  from  the  place  [exiled]. 

155.  If  a  man  betroth  a  girl  to  his  son,  and  his  son  have  in- 
tercourse with  her,  but  he  [the  father]   afterward  defile  her, 
and  be  surprised,  then  he  shall  be  bound  and  cast  into  the  water 
[drowned]. 

156.  If  a  man  betroth  a  girl  to  his  son,  but  his  son  has  not 
known  her,  and  if  then  he  defile  her,  he  shall  pay  her  half  a 
gold  mina,  and  compensate  her  for  all  that  she  brought  out  of 
her  father's  house.     She  may  marry  the  man  of  her  heart. 

157.  If  any  one  be  guilty  of  incest  with  his  mother  after  his 
father,  both  shall  be  burned. 

158.  If  any  one  be  surprised  after  his  father  with  his  chief 
wife,  who  has  borne  children,  he  shall  be  driven  out  of  his 
father's  house. 


3o         COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE 

159.  If  any  one,  who  has  brought  chattels  into  his  father- 
in-law's  house,  and  has  paid  the  purchase-money,  looks  for  an- 
other wife,  and  says  to  his  father-in-law:  "  I  do  not  want  your 
daughter,"  the  girl's  father  may  keep  all  that  he  had  brought. 

1 60.  If  a  man  bring  chattels  into  the  house  of  his  father- 
in-law,  and  pay  the  "purchase  price"  [for  his  wife]:  if  then 
the  father  of  the  girl  say:  "I  will  not  give  you  my  daughter," 
he  shall  give  him  back  all  that  he  brought  with  him. 

161.  If  a  man  bring  chattels  into  his  father-in-law's  house 
and  pay  the  "  purchase  price,"  if  then  his  friend  slander  him, 
and  his  father-in-law  say  to  the  young  husband :  "  You  shall 
not  marry  my  daughter,"  then  he  shall  give  back  to  him  undi- 
minished  all  that  he  had  brought  with  him ;  but  his  wife  shall 
not  be  married  to  the  friend. 

162.  If  a  man  marry  a  woman,  and  she  bear  sons  to  him;  if 
then  this  woman  die,  then  shall  her  father  have  no  claim  on 
her  dowry;  this  belongs  to  her  sons. 

163.  If  a  man  marry  a  woman  and  she  bear  him  no  sons ;  if 
then  this  woman  die,  if  the  "  purchase  price  "  which  he  had 
paid  into  the  house  of  his  father-in-law  is  repaid  to  him,  her 
husband  shall  have  no  claim  upon  the  dowry  of  this  woman ;  it 
belongs  to  her  father's  house. 

164.  If  his  father-in-law  do  not  pay  back  to  him  the  amount 
of  the  "  purchase  price "  he  may  subtract  the  amount  of  the 
"  purchase  price  "  from  the  dowry,  and  then  pay  the  remainder 
to  her  father's  house. 

165.  If  a  man  give  to  one  of  his  sons  whom  he  prefers,  a 
field,  garden  and  house  and  a  deed  therefor :  if  later  the  father 
die,  and  the  brothers  divide  [the  estate],  then  they  shall  first 
give  him  the  present  of  his  father,  and  he  shall  accept  it ;  and 
the  rest  of  the  paternal  property  shall  they  divide. 

1 66.  If  a  man  take  wives  for  his  sons,  but  take  no  wife  for 
his  minor  son,  and  if  then  he  die :  if  the  sons  divide  the  estate, 
they  shall  set  aside  besides  his  portion  the  money  for  the  "  pur- 
chase price  "  for  the  minor  brother  who  had  taken  no  wife  as 
yet,  and  secure  a  wife  for  him. 

167.  If  a  man  marry  a  wife  and  she  bear  him  children:  if 
this  wife  die  and  he  then  take  another  wife  and  she  bear  him 
children :  if  then  the  father  die,  the  sons  must  not  partition 


COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE         31 

the  estate  according  to  the  mothers,  they  shall  divide  the  dow- 
ries of  their  mothers  only  in  this  way ;  the  paternal  estate  they 
shall  divide  equally  with  one  another. 

1 68.  If  a  man  wish  to  put  his  son  out  of  his  house,  and  de- 
clare before  the  judge:  "I  want  to  put  my  son  out,"  then  the 
judge  shall  examine  into  his  reasons.     If  the  son  be  guilty  of 
no  great  fault,  for  which  he  can  be  rightfully  put  out,  the 
father  shall  not  put  him  out. 

169.  If  he  be  guilty  of  a  grave  fault,  which  should  rightfully 
deprive  him  of  the  filial  relationship,  the  father  shall  forgive 
him  the  first  time ;  but  if  he  be  guilty  of  a  grave  fault  a  second 
time  the  father  may  deprive  his  son  of  all  filial  relation. 

1 70.  If  his  wife  bear  sons  to  a  man,  or  his  maid-servant  have 
borne  sons,  and  the  father  while  still  living  says  to  the  children 
whom  his  maid-servant  has  borne :  "  My  sons,"  and  he  count 
them  with  the  sons  of  his  wife ;  if  then  the  father  die,  then  the 
sons  of  the  wife  and  of  the  maid-servant  shall  divide  the  pater- 
nal property  in  common.    The  son  of  the  wife  is  to  partition 
and  choose. 

171.  If,  however,  the  father  while  still  living  did  not  say  to 
the  sons  of  the  maid-servant:  "  My  sons,"  and  then  the  father 
dies,  then  the  sons  of  the  maid-servant  shall  not  share  with  the 
sons  of  the  wife,  but  the  freedom  of  the  maid  and  her  sons 
shall  be  granted.    The  sons  of  the  wife  shall  have  no  right  to 
enslave  the  sons  of  the  maid ;  the  wife  shall  take  her  dowry 
[from  her  father],  and  the  gift  that  her  husband  gave  her  and 
deeded  to  her  [separate  from  dowry,  or  the  purchase  money 
paid  her  father],  and  live  in  the  home  of  her  husband :  so  long 
as  she  lives  she  shall  use  it,  it  shall  not  be  sold  for  money. 
Whatever  she  leaves  shall  belong  to  her  children. 

172.  If  her  husband  made  her  no  gift,  she  shall  be  compen- 
sated for  her  gift,  and  she  shall  receive  a  portion  from  the 
estate  of  her  husband,  equal  to  that  of  one  child.     If  her  sons 
oppress  her,  to  force  her  out  of  the  house,  the  judge  shall  ex- 
amine into  the  matter,  and  if  the  sons  are  at  fault  the  woman 
shall  not  leave  her  husband's  house.     If  the  woman  desire  to 
leave  the  house,  she  must  leave  to  her  sons  the  gift  which  her 
husband  gave  her,  but  she  may  take  the  dowry  of  her  father's 
house.     Then  she  may  marry  the  man  of  her  heart. 


32          COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST   CODE 

173.  If  this  woman  bear  sons  to  her  second  husband,  in 
the  place  to  which  she  went,  and  then  die,  her  earlier  and  later 
sons  shall  divide  the  dowry  between  them. 

174.  If  she  bear  no  sons  to  her  second  husband,  the  sons 
of  her  first  husband  shall  have  the  dowry. 

175.  If  a  state  slave  or  the  slave  of  a  freed  man  marry  the 
daughter  of  a  free  man,  and  children  are  born,  the  master  of 
the  slave  shall  have  no  right  to  enslave  the  children  of  the 
free. 

176.  If,  however,  a  state  slave  or  the  slave  of  a  freed  man 
marry  a  man's  daughter,  and  after  he  married  her  she  bring  a 
dowry  from  a  father's  house,  if  then  they  both  enjoy  it  and 
found  a  household,  and  accumulate  means,  if  then  the  slave  die, 
then  she  who  was  free  born  may  take  her  dowry,  and  all  that 
her  husband  and  she  had  earned ;  she  shall  divide  them  into 
two  parts,  one-half  the  master  for  the  slave  shall  take,  and  the 
other  half  shall  the  free-born  woman  take  for  her  children.     If 
the  free-born  woman  had  no  gift  she  shall  take  all  that  her  hus- 
band and  she  had  earned  and  divide  it  into  two  parts ;  and  the 
master  of  the  slave  shall  take  one-half  and  she  shall  take  the 
other  for  her  children. 

177.  If  a  widow,  whose  children  are  not  grown,  wishes  to 
enter  another  house  [remarry],  she  shall  not  enter  it  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  judge.    If  she  enter  another  house  the 
judge  shall  examine  the  estate  of  the  house  of  her  first  hus- 
band.   Then  the  house  of  her  first  husband  shall  be  intrusted 
to  the  second  husband  and  the  woman  herself  as  managers. 
And  a  record  must  be  made  thereof.     She  shall  keep  the 
house  in  order,  bring  up  the  children,  and  not  sell  the  house- 
hold utensils.    He  who  buys  the  utensils  of  the  children  of  a 
widow  shall  lose  his  money,  and  the  goods  shall  return  to  their 
owners. 

178.  If  a  "devoted  woman"  or  a  prostitute  [connected 
with  the  temple  neither  can  marry]  to  whom  her  father  has 
given  a  dowry  and  a  deed  therefor,  but  if  in  this  deed  it  is  not 
stated  that  she  may  bequeath  it  as  she  pleases,  and  has  not  ex- 
plicitly stated  that  she  has  the  right  of  disposal;  if  then  her 

ither  die,  then  her  brothers  shall  hold  her  field  and  garden, 
and  give  her  corn,  oil  and  milk  according  to  her  portion,  and 


COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST   CODE          33 

satisfy  her.  If  her  brothers  do  not  give  her  corn,  oil  and  milk 
according  to  her  share,  then  her  field  and  garden  shall  be  given 
to  a  farmer  whom  she  chooses  and  the  farmer  shall  support 
her.  She  shall  have  the  usufruct  of  field  and  garden  and  all 
that  her  father  gave  her  so  long  as  she  lives,  but  she  cannot 
sell  or  assign  it  to  others.  Her  position  of  inheritance  belongs 
to  her  brothers. 

179.  If  a  "  sister  of  a  god  "  [whose  hire  went  to  the  revenue 
of  the  temple,  counterpart  to  the  public  prostitute],  or  a  pros- 
titute, receive  a  gift  from  her  father,  and  a  deed  in  which  it 
has  been  explicitly  stated  that  she  may  dispose  of  it  as  she 
pleases,  and  give  her  complete  disposition  thereof :  if  then  her 
father  die,  then  she  may  leave  her  property  to  whomsoever  she 
pleases.     Her  brothers  can  raise  no  claim  thereto. 

1 80.  If  a  father  give  a  present  to  his  daughter — either  mar- 
riageable or  a  prostitute  [unmarriageable] — and  then  die,  then 
she  is  to  receive  a  portion  as  a  child  from  the  paternal  estate, 
and  enjoy  its  usufruct  so  long  as  she  lives.     Her  estate  belongs 
to  her  brothers. 

181.  If  a  father  devote  a  temple-maid  or  temple-virgin  to 
God  and  give  her  no  present :  if  then  the  father  die,  she  shall 
receive  the  third  of  a  child's  portion  from  the  inheritance  of 
her  father's  house,  and  enjoy  its  usufruct  so  long  as  she  lives. 
Her  estate  belongs  to  her  brothers. 

182.  If  a  father  devote  his  daughter  as  a  wife  of  Marduk  of 
Babylon  [as  in  181],  and  give  her  no  present,  nor  a  deed;  if 
then  her  father  die,  then  shall  she  receive  one-third  of  her  por- 
tion as  a  child  of  her  father's  house  from  her  brothers,  but  she 
shall  not  have  the  management  thereof.    A  wife  of  Marduk 
may  leave  her  estate  to  whomsoever  she  wishes. 

183.  If  a  man  give  his  daughter  by  a  concubine  a  dowry, 
and  a  husband,  and  a  deed ;  if  then  her  father  die,  she  shall  re- 
ceive no  portion  from  the  paternal  estate. 

184.  If  a  man  do  not  give  a  dowry  to  his  daughter  by  a  con- 
cubine, and  no  husband ;  if  then  her  father  die  then  her  brother 
shall  give  her  a  dowry  according  to  her  father's  wealth  and 
secure  a  husband  for  her. 

185.  If  a  man  adopt  a  child  and  to  his  name  as  son,  and 
rear  him,  this  grown  son  cannot  be  demanded  back  again. 

E.,  VOL.  i.— 3 


34         COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

1 86.  If  a  man  adopt  a  son,  and  if  after  he  has  taken  him  he 
injure  his  foster  father  and  mother,  then  this  adopted  son  shall 
return  to  his  father's  house. 

187.  The  son  of  a  paramour  in  the  palace  service,  or  of  a 
prostitute,  cannot  be  demanded  back. 

1 88.  If  an  artisan  has  undertaken  to  rear  a  child  and  teaches 
him  his  craft,  he  cannot  be  demanded  back. 

189.  If  he  has  not  taught  him  his  craft,  this  adopted  son 
may  return  to  his  father's  house. 

190.  If  a  man  does  not  maintain  a  child  that  he  has  adopted 
as  son  and  reared  with  his  other  children,  then  his  adopted  son 
may  return  to  his  father's  house. 

191.  If  a  man,  who  had  adopted  a  son  and  reared  him, 
founded  a  household,  and  had  children,  wish  to  put  this  adopted 
son  out,  then  this  son  shall  not  simply  go  his  way.     His  adopt- 
ive father  shall  give  him  of  his  wealth  one-third  of  a  child's 
portion,  and  then  he  may  go.     He  shall  not  give  him  of  the 
field,  garden  and  house. 

192.  If  a  son  of  a  paramour  or  a  prostitute  say  to  his  adopt- 
ive father  or  mother:  "  You  are  not  my  father,  or  my  mother," 
his  tongue  shall  be  cut  off. 

193.  If  the  son  of  a  paramour  or  a  prostitute  desire  his 
father's  house,  and  desert  his  adoptive  father  and  adoptive 
mother,  and  goes  to  his  father's  house,  then  shall  his  eye  be 
put  out. 

194.  If  a  man  give  his  child  to  a  nurse  and  the  child  die  in 
her  hands,  but  the  nurse  unbeknown  to  the  father  and  mother 
nurse  another  child,  then  they  shall  convict  her  of  having 
nursed  another  child  without  the  knowledge  of  the  father  and 
mother  and  her  breasts  shall  be  cut  off. 

195-  If  a  son  strike  his  father,  his  hands  shall  be  hewn  off. 

196.  If  a  man  put  out  the  eye  of  another  man,  his  eye  shall 
be  put  out. 

197.  If  he  break  another  man's  bone,  his  bone  shall  be 
broken. 

198.  If  he  put  out  the  eye  of  a  freed  man,  or  break  the 
bone  of  a  freed  man,  he  shall  pay  one  gold  mina. 

199-  If  he  put  out  the  eye  of  a  man's  slave,  or  break  the 
bone  of  a  man's  slave,  he  shall  pay  one-half  of  its  value. 


COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE          3* 

200.  If  a  man  knock  out  the  teeth  of  his  equal,  his  teeth 
shall  be  knocked  out 

201.  If  he  knock  out  the  teeth  of  a  freed  man,  he  shall  pay 
one-third  of  a  gold  mina. 

202.  If  any  one  strike  the  body  of  a  man  higher  in  rank 
than  he,  he  shall  receive  sixty  blows  with  an  ox-hide  whip  in 
public. 

203.  If  a  free-born  man  strike  the  body  of  another  free- 
born  man  of  equal  rank,  he  shall  pay  one  gold  mina. 

204.  If  a  freed  man  strike  the  body  of  another  freed  man, 
he  shall  pay  ten  shekels  in  money. 

205.  If  the  slave  of  a  freed  man  strike  the  body  of  a  freed 
man,  his  ear  shall  be  cut  off. 

206.  If  during  a  quarrel  one  man  strike  another  and  wound 
him,  then  he  shall  swear,  "  I  did  not  injure  him  wittingly,"  and 
pay  the  physician. 

207.  If  the  man  die  of  his  wound,  he  shall  swear  similarly, 
and  if  he  [the  deceased]  was  a  free-born  man,  he  shall  pay 
half  a  mina  in  money. 

208.  If  he  was  a  freed  man,  he  shall  pay  one-third  of  a 
mina. 

209.  If  a  man  strike  a  free-born  woman  so  that  she  lose 
her  unborn  child,  he  shall  pay  ten  shekels  for  her  loss. 

210.  If  the  woman  die,  his  daughter  shall  be  put  to  death. 

211.  If  a  woman  of  the  freed  class  lose  her  child  by  a  blow, 
he  shall  pay  five  shekels  in  money. 

212.  If  this  woman  die,  he  shall  pay  half  a  mina. 

213.  If  he  strike  the  maid-servant  of  a  man,  and  she  lose 
her  child,  he  shall  pay  two  shekels  in  money. 

214.  If  this  maid-servant  die,  he  shall  pay  one-third  of  a 
mina. 

215.  If  a  physician  make  a  large  incision  with  a  operating 
knife  and  cure  it,  or  if  he  open  a  tumor  [over  the  eye]  with  an 
operating  knife,  and  saves  the  eye,  he  shall  receive  ten  shekels 
in  money. 

216.  If  the  patient  be  a  freed  man,  he  receives  five  shekels. 

217.  If  he  be  the  slave  of  some  one,  his  owner  shall  give  the 
physician  two  shekels. 

2 1 8.  If  a  physician  make  a  large  incision  with  the  operat- 


36         COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

ing  knife,  and  kill  him,  or  open  a  tumor  with  the  operating 
knife,  and  cut  out  the  eye,  his  hands  shall  be  cut  off. 

219.  If  a  physician  make  a  large  incision  in  the  slave  of  a 
freed  man,  and  kill  him,  he  shall  replace  the  slave  with  another 
slave. 

220.  If  he  had  opened  a  tumor  with  the  operating  knife, 
and  put  out  his  eye,  he  shall  pay  half  his  value. 

221.  If  a  physician  heal  the  broken  bone  or  diseased  soft 
part  of  a  man,  the  patient  shall  pay  the  physician  five  shekels 
in  money. 

222.  If  he  were  a  freed  man  he  shall  pay  three  shekels. 

223.  If  he  were  a  slave  his  owner  shall  pay  the  physician 
two  shekels. 

224.  If  a  veterinary  surgeon  perform  a  serious  operation  on 
an  ass  or  an  ox,  and  cure  it,  the  owner  shall  pay  the  surgeon 
one-sixth  of  a  shekel  as  fee. 

225.  If  he  perform  a  serious  operation  on  an  ass  or  ox,  and 
kill  it,  he  shall  pay  the  owner  one-fourth  of  its  value. 

226.  If  a  barber,  without  the  knowledge  of  his  master,  cut 
the  sign  of  a  slave  on  a  slave  not  to  be  sold,  the  hands  of  this 
barber  shall  be  cut  off. 

227.  If  any  one  deceive  a  barber,  and  have  him  mark  a 
slave  not  for  sale  with  the  sign  of  a  slave,  he  shall  be  put  to 
death,  and  buried  in  his  house.     The  barber  shall  swear:  "I 
did  not  mark  him  wittingly,"  and  shall  be  guiltless. 

228.  If  a  builder  build  a  house  for  some  one  and  complete 
it,  he  shall  give  him  a  fee  of  two  shekels  in  money  for  each 
sar  of  surface. 

229.  If  a  builder  build  a  house  for  some  one,  and  does  not 
construct  it  properly,  and  the  house  which  he  built  fall  in  and 
kill  its  owner,  then  that  builder  shall  be  put  to  death. 

230.  If  it  kill  the  son  of  the  owner  the  son  of  that  builder 
shall  be  put  to  death. 

231.  If  it  kill  a  slave  of  the  owner,  then  he  shall  pay  slave 
for  slave  to  the  owner  of  the  house. 

232.  If  it  ruin  goods,  he  shall  make  compensation  for  all 
that  has  been  ruined,  and  inasmuch  as  he  did  not  construct 
properly  this  house  which  he  built  and  it  fell,  he  shall  reerect 
the  house  from  his  own  means. 


COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE         37 

233.  If  a  builder  build  a  house  for  some  one,  even  though 
he  has  not  yet  completed  it ;  if  then  the  walls  seem  toppling, 
the  builder  must  make  the  walls  solid  from  his  own  means. 

234.  If  a  shipbuilder  build  a  boat  of  sixty  gur  for  a  man, 
he  shall  pay  him  a  fee  of  two  shekels  in  money. 

235.  If  a  shipbuilder  build  a  boat  for  some  one,  and  do  not 
make  it  tight,  if  during  that  same  year  that  boat  is  sent  away 
and  suffers  injury,  the  shipbuilder  shall  take  the  boat  apart  and 
put  it  together  tight  at  his  own  expense.     The  tight  boat  he 
shall  "give  to  the  boat  owner. 

236.  If  a  man  rent  his  boat  to  a  sailor,  and  the  sailor  is 
careless,  and  the  boat  is  wrecked  or  goes  aground,  the  sailor 
shall  give  the  owner  of  the  boat  another  boat  as  compensa- 
tion. 

237.  If  a  man  hire  a  sailor  and  his  boat,  and  provide  it  with 
corn,  clothing,  oil  and  dates,  and  other  things  of  the  kind 
needed  for  fitting  it:    if  the  sailor  is  careless,  the  boat  is 
wrecked,  and  its  contents  ruined,  then  the  sailor  shall  compen- 
sate for  the  boat  which  was  wrecked  and  all  in  it  that  he  ruined. 

238.  If  a  sailor  wreck  any  one's  ship,  but  saves  it,  he  shall 
pay  the  half  of  its  value  in  money. 

239.  If  a  man  hire  a  sailor,  he  shall  pay  him  six  gur  of  corn 
per  year. 

240.  If  a  merchantman  run  against  a  ferryboat,  and  wreck 
it,  the  master  of  the  ship  that  was  wrecked  shall  seek  justice 
before  God ;  the  master  of  the  merchantman,  which  wrecked 
the  ferryboat,  must  compensate  the  owner  for  the  boat  and  all 
that  he  ruined. 

241.  If  any  one  impresses  an  ox  for  forced  labor,  he  shall 
pay  one-third  of  a  mina  in  money. 

242.  If  any  one  hire  oxen  for  a  year,  he  shall  pay  iaux  gur 
of  corn  for  plow-oxen. 

243.  As  rent  of  herd  cattle  he  shall  pay  three  guroi.  corn 
to  the  owner. 

244.  If  any  one  hire  an  ox  or  an  ass,  and  a  lion  kill  it  in 
the  field,  the  loss  is  upon  its  owner. 

245.  If  any  one  hire  oxen,  and  kill  them  by  bad  treatment 
or  blows,  he  shall  compensate  the  owner,  oxen  for  oxen. 

246.  If  a  man  hire  an  ox,  and  he  break  its  leg  or  cut  the 


38          COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

ligament  of  its  neck,  he  shall  compensate  the  owner  with  ox 

for  ox. 

247.  If  any  one  hire  an  ox,  and  put  out  its  eye,  he  shall  pay 
the  owner  one-half  of  its  value. 

248.  If  any  one  hire  an  ox,  and  break  off  a  horn,  or  cut  off 
its  tail  or  hurt  its  muzzle,  he  shall  pay  one-fourth  of  its  value 
in  money. 

249.  If  any  one  hire  an  ox,  and  God  strike  it  that  it  die, 
the  man  who  hired  it  shall  swear  by  God  and  be  considered 
guiltless. 

250.  If  while  an  ox  is  passing  on  the  street  [market  ?]  some 
one  push  it,  and  kill  it,  the  owner  can  set  up  no  claim  in  the 
suit  [against  the  hirer]. 

251.  If  an  ox  be  a  goring  ox,  and  it  is  shown  that  he  is  a 
gorer,  and  he  do  not  bind  his  horns,  or  fasten  the  ox  up,  and 
the  ox  gore  a  free-born  man  and  kill  him,  the  owner  shall  pay 
one-half  a  mina  hi  money. 

252.  If  he  kill  a  man's  slave,  he  shall  pay  one-third  of  a  mina. 

253.  If  any  one  agree  with  another  to  tend  his  field,  give 
him  seed,  intrust  a  yoke  of  oxen  to  him,  and  bind  him  to  culti- 
vate the  field,  if  he  steal  the  corn  or  plants,  and  take  them  for 
himself,  his  hands  shall  be  hewn  off. 

254.  If  he  take  the  seed-corn  for  himself,  and  do  not  use 
the  yoke  of  oxen,  he  shall  compensate  him  for  the  amount  of 
the  seed-corn. 

255.  If  he  sublet  the  man's  yoke  of  oxen  or  steal  the  seed- 
corn,  planting  nothing  in  the  field,  he  shall  be  convicted,  and 
for  each  one  hundred  gan  he  shall  pay  sixty  gur  of  corn. 

256.  If  his  community  will  not  pay  for  him,  then  he  shall 
be  placed  in  that  field  with  the  cattle  [at  work]. 

257.  If  any  one  hire  a  field  laborer,  he  shall  pay  him  eight 
gur  of  corn  per  year. 

258.  If  any  one  hire  an  ox-driver,  he  shall  pay  him  six  gur 
of  corn  per  year. 

259.  If  any  one  steal  a  water-wheel  from  the  field,  he  shall 
pay  five  shekels  in  money  to  its  owner. 

260.  If  any  one  steal  a  shadduf  [used  to  draw  water  from 
the  river  or  canal]  or  a  plow,  he  shall  pay  three  shekels  in 
money. 


COMPILATION   OF   EARLIEST   CODE         39 

261.  If  any  one  hire  a  herdsman  for  cattle  or  sheep,  he 
shall  pay  him  eight  gur  of  corn  per  annum. 

262.  If  any  one,  a  cow  or  a  sheep  .;....  [broken  off]. 

263.  If  he  kill  the  cattle  or  sheep  that  were  given  to  him, 
he  shall  compensate  the  owner  with  cattle  for  cattle  and  sheep 
for  sheep. 

264.  If  a  herdsman,  to  whom  cattle  or  sheep  have  been  in- 
trusted for  watching  over,  and  who  has  received  his  wages  as 
agreed  upon,  and  is  satisfied,  diminish  the  number  of  the  cat- 
tle or  sheep,  or  make  the  increase  by  birth  less,  he  shall  make 
good  the  increase  and  profit  which  was  lost  in  the  terms  of  set- 
tlement. 

265.  If  a  herdsman,  to  whose  care  cattle  or  sheep  have 
been  intrusted,  be  guilty  of  fraud  and  make  false  returns  of 
the  natural  increase,  or  sell  them  for  money,  then  shall  he  be 
convicted  and  pay  the  owner  ten  times  the  loss. 

266.  If  the  animal  be  killed  in  the  stable  by  God  [an  acci- 
dent], or  if  a  lion  kill  it,  the  herdsman  shall  declare  his  inno- 
cence before  God,  and  the  owner  bears  the  accident  in  the 
stable^ 

267.  If  the  herdsman  overlook  something,  and  an  accident 
happen  in  the  stable,  then  the  herdsman  is  at  fault  for  the  ac- 
cident which  he  has  caused  in  the  stable,  and  he  must  compen- 
sate the  owner  for  the  cattle  or  sheep. 

268.  If  any  one  hire  an  ox  for  threshing,  the  amount  of  the 
hire  is  twenty  ka  of  corn. 

269.  If  he  hire  an  ass  for  threshing,  the  hire  is  twenty  ka 
of  corn. 

270.  If  he  hire  a  young  animal  for  threshing,  the  hire  is  ten 
ka  of  corn. 

271.  If  any  one  hire  oxen,  cart  and  driver,  he  shall  pay  one 
hundred  and  eighty  ka  of  corn  per  day. 

272.  If  any  one  hire  a  cart  alone,  he  shall  pay  forty  ka  of 
corn  per  day. 

273.  If  any  one  hire  a  day  laborer,  he  shall  pay  him  from 
the  New  Year  until  the  fifth  month  [April  to  August,  when 
days  are  long  and  work  hard]  six  gerahs  in  money  per  day  ; 
from  the  sixth  month  to  the  end  of  the  year  he  shall  give  him 
five  gerahs  per  day. 


40         COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

274.  If  any  one  hire  a  skilled  artisan,  he  shall  pay  as  wages 

Of  the five  gerahs,  as  wages  of  the  potter  five  gerahs,  of 

a  tailor  five  gerahs,  of gerahs, of gerahs 

.  . .  of gerahs,  of  a  carpenter  four  gerahs,  of  a  rope- 
maker  four  gerahs,  of gerahs,  of  a  mason gerahs 

per  day. 

275.  If  any  one  hire  a  ferryboat,  he  shall  pay  three  gerahs 

in  money  per  day 

276.  If  he  hire  a  freight-boat,  he  shall  pay  two  and  one- 
half  gerahs  per  day. 

277.  If  any  one  hire  a  ship  of  sixty  gur,  he  shall  pay  one- 
sixth  of  a  shekel  in  money  as  its  hire  per  day. 

278.  If  any  one  buy  a  male  or  female  slave,  and  before  a 
month  has  elapsed  the  ^-raw-disease  be  developed,  he  shall  re- 
turn the  slave  to  the  seller,  and  receive  the  money  which  he 
had  paid. 

279.  If  any  one  buy  a  male  or  female  slave,  and  a  third 
party  claim  it,  the  seller  is  liable  for  the  claim. 

280.  If  while  in  a  foreign  country  a  man  buy  a  male  or 
female  slave  belonging  to  another  [of  his  own  country] :   if 
when  he  return  home  the  owner  of  the  male  or  female  slave 
recognize  it :  if  the  male  or  female  slave  be  a  native  of  the 
country,  he  shall  give  them  back  without  any  money. 

281.  If  they  are  from  another  country,  the  buyer  shall  de- 
clare the  amount  of  money  he  paid  before  God,  and  the  owner 
shall  give  the  money  paid  therefor  to  the  merchant,  and  keep 
the  male  or  female  slave. 

282.  If  a  slave  say  to  his  master:  "You  are  not  my  mas- 
ter," if  they  convict  him  his  master  shall  cut  off  his  ear. 

THE  EPILOGUE 

Laws  of  justice  which  Hammurabi,  the  wise  king,  estab- 
lished. A  righteous  law,  and  pious  statute  did  he  teach  the 
land.  Hammurabi,  the  protecting  king  am  I.  I  have  not 
withdrawn  myself  from  the  men,  whom  Bel  gave  to  me,  the 
rule  over  whom  Marduk  gave  to  me,  I  was  not  negligent,  but 
I  made  them  a  peaceful  abiding  place.  I  expounded  all  great 
difficulties,  I  made  the  light  shine  upon  them.  With  the 


COMPILATION   OF  EARLIEST  CODE         41 

mighty  weapons  which  Zamama  and  Ishtar  intrusted  to  me, 
with  the  keen  vision  with  which  Ea  endowed  me,  with  the 
wisdom  that  Marduk  gave  me,  I  have  uprooted  the  enemy 
above  and  below  [in  north  and  south],  subdued  the  earth, 
brought  prosperity  to  the  land,  guaranteed  security  to  the 
inhabitants  in  their  homes;  a  disturber  was  not  permitted 
The  great  gods  have  called  me,  I  am  the  salvation-bearing 
shepherd  [ruler],  whose  staff  [sceptre]  is  straight  [just],  the 
good  shadow  that  is  spread  over  my  city;  on  my  breast  I 
cherish  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  of  Sumer  and  Akkad 
[Babylonia] ;  in  my  shelter  I  have  let  them  repose  in  peace ; 
in  my  deep  wisdom  have  I  inclosed  them.  That  the  strong 
might  not  injure  the  weak,  in  order  to  protect  the  widows 
and  orphans,  I  have  in  Babylon  the  city  where  Anu  and  Bel 
raise  high  their  head,  in  E-Sagil,  the  Temple,  whose  foun- 
dations stand  firm  as  heaven  and  earth,  in  order  to  bespeak 
justice  in  the  land,  to  settle  all  disputes,  and  heal  all  injuries, 
set  up  these  my  precious  words,  written  upon  my  memorial 
stone,  before  the  image  of  me,  as  king  of  righteousness. 

The  king  who  ruleth  among  the  kings  of  the  cities  am  I. 
My  words  are  well  considered ;  there  is  no  wisdom  like  unto 
mine.  By  the  command  of  Shamash  [the  sun-god],  the  great 
judge  of  heaven  and  earth,  let  righteousness  go  forth  in  the 
land :  by  the  order  of  Marduk,  my  lord,  let  no  destruction  be- 
fall my  monument.  In  E-Sagil,  which  I  love,  let  my  name  be 
ever  repeated ;  let  the  oppressed,  who  has  a  case  at  law,  come 
and  stand  before  this  my  image  as  king  of  righteousness ;  let 
him  read  the  inscription,  and  understand  my  precious  words : 
the  inscription  will  explain  his  case  to  him ;  he  will  find  out 
what  is  just,  and  his  heart  will  be  glad  [so  that  he  will 
say]: 

"  Hammurabi  is  a  ruler,  who  is  as  a  father  to  his  subjects,  who 
holds  the  words  of  Marduk  in  reverence,  who  has  achieved  con- 
quest for  Marduk  over  the  north  and  south,  who  rejoices  the 
heart  of  Marduk,  his  lord,  who  has  bestowed  benefits  forever 
and  ever  on  his  subjects,  and  has  established  order  in  the  land." 

When  he  reads  the  record,  let  him  pray  with  full  heart  to 
Marduk,  my  lord,  and  Zarpanit,  my  lady ;  and  then  shall  the 
protecting  deities  and  the  gods,  who  frequent  E-Sagil,  gra- 


42         COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

ciously  grant  the  desires  daily  presented  before  Marduk,  my 
lord,  and  Zarpanit,  my  Jady. 

In  future  time,  through  all  coming  generations,  let  the 
king,  who  may  be  in  the  land,  observe  the  words  of  righteous- 
ness which  I  have  written  on  my  monument ;  let  him  not  alter 
the  law  of  the  land  which  I  have  given,  the  edicts  which  I  have 
enacted ;  my  monument  let  him  not  mar.  If  such  a  ruler  have 
wisdom,  and  be  able  to  keep  his  land  in  order,  he  shall  observe 
the  words  which  I  have  written  in  this  inscription ;  the  rule, 
statute  and  law  of  the  land  which  I  have  given ;  the  decisions 
which  I  have  made  will  this  inscription  show  him ;  let  him  rule 
his  subjects  accordingly,  speak  justice  to  them,  give  right  de- 
cisions, root  out  the  miscreants  and  criminals  from  his  land, 
and  grant  prosperity  to  his  subjects. 

Hammurabi,  the  king  of  righteousness,  on  whom  Shamash 
has  conferred  right  [or  law]  am  I.  My  words  are  well  consid- 
ered, my  deeds  are  not  equaled,  to  bring  low  those  that  were 
high,  to  humble  the  proud,  to  expel  insolence.  If  a  succeed- 
ing ruler  considers  my  words,  which  I  have  written  in  this  my 
inscription,  if  he  do  not  annul  my  law,  nor  corrupt  my  words, 
nor  change  my  monument,  then  may  Shamash  lengthen  that 
king's  reign,  as  he  has  that  of  me,  the  king  of  righteousness, 
that  he  may  reign  in  righteousness  over  his  subjects.  If  this 
ruler  do  not  esteem  my  words,  which  I  have  written  in  my  in- 
scription, if  he  despise  my  curses,  and  fear  not  the  curse  of 
God,  if  he  destroy  the  law  which  I  have  given,  corrupt  my 
vords,  change  my  monument,  efface  my  name,  write  his  name 
there,  or  on  account  of  the  curses  commission  another  so  to 
do,  that  man,  whether  king  or  ruler,  patesi  [priest-viceroy]  or 
commoner,  no  matter  what  he  be,  may  the  great  God  [Ami], 
the  Father  of  the  gods,  who  has  ordered  my  rule,  withdraw 
from  him  the  glory  of  royalty,  break  his  sceptre,  curse  his  des- 
tiny. May  Bel,  the  lord,  who  fixeth  destiny,  whose  command 
cannot  be  altered,  who  has  made  my  kingdom  great,  order  a 
rebellion  which  his  hand  cannot  control ;  may  he  let  the  wind 
of  the  overthrow  of  his  habitation  blow,  may  he  ordain  the 
years  of  his  rule  in  groaning,  years  of  scarcity,  years  of  famine, 
darkness  without  light,  death  with  seeing  eyes  be  fated  to  him  ; 
may  he  [Bel]  order  with  his  potent  mouth  the  destruction  of 


COMPILATION    OF   EARLIEST   CODE          43 

his  city,  the  dispersion  of  his  subjects,  the  cutting  off  of  his 
rule,  the  removal  of  his  name  and  memory  from  the  land.  May 
Belit,  the  great  Mother,  whose  command  is  potent  in  E-Kur 
[the  Babylonian  Olympus],  the  Mistress,  who  hearkens  gra- 
ciously to  my  petitions,  in  the  seat  of  judgment  and  decision 
[where  Bel  fixes  destiny],  turn  his  affairs  evil  before  Bel,  and 
put  the  devastation  of  his  land,  the  destruction  of  his  subjects, 
the  pouring  out  of  his  life  like  water  into  the  mouth  of  King 
Bel.  May  Ea,  the  great  ruler,  whose  fated  decrees  come  to 
pass,  the  thinker  of  the  gods,  the  omniscient,  who  maketh  long 
the  days  of  my  life,  withdraw  understanding  and  wisdom  from 
him,  lead  him  to  forgetfulness,  shut  up  his  rivers  at  their 
sources,  and  not  allow  corn  or  sustenance  for  man  to  grow 
in  his  land.  May  Shamash,  the  great  Judge  of  heaven  and 
earth,  who  supporteth  all  means  of  livelihood,  Lord  of  life-cour- 
age, shatter  his  dominion,  annul  his  law,  destroy  his  way, 
make  vain  the  march  of  his  troops,  send  him  in  his  visions  fore- 
casts of  the  uprooting  of  the  foundations  of  his  throne  and  of 
the  destruction  of  his  land.  May  the  condemnation  of  Sha- 
mash overtake  him  forthwith ;  may  he  be  deprived  of  water 
above  among  the  living,  and  his  spirit  below  in  the  earth.  May 
Sin  [the  moon-god],  the  Lord  of  Heaven,  the  divine  father, 
whose  crescent  gives  light  among  the  gods,  take  away  the 
crown  and  regal  throne  from  him ;  may  he  put  upon  him  heavy 
guilt,  great  decay,  that  nothing  may  be  lower  than  he.  May 
he  destine  him  as  fated,  days,  months  and  years  of  dominion 
filled  with  sighing  and  tears,  increase  of  the  burden  of  domin- 
ion, a  life  that  is  like  unto  death.  May  Adad,  the  lord  of  fruit 
fulness,  ruler  of  heaven  and  earth,  my  helper,  withhold  froni 
him  rain  from  heaven,  and  the  flood  of  water  from  the  springs, 
destroying  his  land  by  famine  and  want;  may  he  rage  mightily 
over  his  city,  and  make  his  land  into  flood-hills  [heaps  of  ruined 
cities].  May  Zamama,  the  great  warrior,  the  first  born  son  of 
E-Kur,  who  goeth  at  my  right  hand,  shatter  his  weapons  on 
the  field  of  battle,  turn  day  into  night  for  him,  and  let  his  foe 
triumph  over  him.  May  Ishtar,  the  goddess  of  fighting  and 
war,  who  unfetters  my  weapons,  my  gracious  protecting  spirit^ 
who  loveth  my  dominion,  curse  his  kingdom  in  her  angry  heart ; 
in  her  great  wrath,  change  his  grace  into  evil,  and  shatter  his 


44        COMPILATION  OF  EARLIEST  CODE 

weapons  on  the  place  of  fighting  and  war.  May  she  create 
disorder  and  sedition  for  him,  strike  down  his  warriors,  that 
the  earth  may  drink  their  blood,  and  throw  down  the  piles  of 
corpses  of  his  warriors  on  the  field ;  may  she  not  grant  him  a 
life  of  mercy,  deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies,  and 
imprison  him  in  the  land  of  his  enemies.  May  Nergal,  the 
mighty  among  the  gods,  whose  contest  is  irresistible,  who 
grants  me  victory,  in  his  great  might  burn  up  his  subjects  like 
a  slender  reed-stalk,  cut  off  his  limbs  with  his  mighty  weapons, 
and  shatter  him  like  an  earthen  image.  May  Nin-tu,  the  sub- 
lime mistress  of  the  lands,  the  fruitful  mother,  deny  him  a  son, 
vouchsafe  him  no  name,  give  him  no  successor  among  men. 
May  Nin-karak,  the  daughter  of  Anu,  who  adjudges  grace  to 
me,  cause  to  come  upon  his  members  in  E-kur,  high  fever, 
severe  wounds,  that  cannot  be  healed,  whose  nature  the  physi- 
cian does  not  understand,  which  he  cannot  treat  with  dressing, 
which,  like  the  bite  of  death,  cannot  be  removed,  until  they 
have  sapped  away  his  life. 

May  he  lament  the  loss  of  his  life-power,  and  may  the  great 
gods  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  Anunnaki  altogether  inflict  a 
curse  and  evil  upon  the  confines  of  the  temple,  the  walls  of 
this  E-barra  [the  Sun  temple  of  Sippara],  upon  his  dominion, 
his  land,  his  warriors,  his  subjects  and  his  troops.  May  Bel 
curse  him  with  the  potent  curses  of  his  mouth  that  cannot  be 
altered,  and  may  they  come  upon  him  forthwith 


THESEUS  FOUNDS  ATHENS 

B.C.   1235 

PLUTARCH 

The  founding  of  the  city  of  Athens,  apart  from  the  mythological  lore 
which  ascribes  its  name  to  Athene",  the  goddess,  is  credited  by  the  Greeks 
to  Sais,  a  native  of  Egypt.  The  real  founder  of  Athens,  the  one  who 
made  it  a  city  and  kingdom,  was  Theseus;  an  unacknowledged  illegiti- 
mate child.  The  usual  myth  surrounds  his  birth  and  upbringing. 

King  JEgeus,  of  Attica,  his  father,  had  an  intrigue  with  ^Ethra.  Be- 
fore leaving,  yEgeus  informed  her  that  he  had  hidden  his  sword  and 
sandals  beneath  a  great  stone,  hollowed  out  to  receive  them.  She  was 
charged  that  should  a  son  be  born  to  them  and,  on  growing  to  man's 
estate,  be  able  to  lift  the  stone,  ^Ethra  must  send  him  to  his  father,  with 
these  things  under  it,  in  all  secrecy.  These  happenings  were  in  Troszen, 
in  which  place  vEgeus  had  been  sojourning. 

All  came  about  as  expected.  Theseus,  the  son,  lifted  the  stone,  took 
thence  the  deposit  and  departed  for  Attica,  his  father's  home.  On  his 
way  Theseus  had  a  number  of  adventures  which  proved  his  prowess,  not 
the  least  being  his  encounter  with  and  defeat  of  Periphetes,  the  "  club- 
bearer,"  so  called  from  the  weapon  he  used. 

Theseus  had  complied  with  the  custom  of  his  country  by  journeying 
to  Delphi  and  offering  the  first-fruits  of  his  hair,  then  cut  for  the  first 
time.  This  first  cutting  of  the  hair  was  always  an  occasion  of  solemnity 
among  the  Greeks,  the  hair  being  dedicated  to  some  god.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  Homer  speaks  of  this  hi  the  Iliad. 

One  salient  fact  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  Grecian  history,  which  is 
that  it  was  a  settled  maxim  that  each  city  should  have  an  independent 
sovereignty.  "  The  patriotism  of  a  Greek  was  confined  to  his  city,  and 
rarely  kindled  into  any  general  love  for  the  common  welfare  of  Hellas." l 

A  Greek  citizen  of  Athens  was  an  alien  in  any  other  city  of  the  penin- 
sula. This  political  disunion  caused  the  various  cities  to  turn  against 
each  other,  and  laid  them  open  to  conquest  by  the  Macedonians. 

A  S  he  [Theseus]  proceeded  on  his  way,  and  reached  the  river 
**•  Cephisus,  men  of  the  Phytalid  race  were  the  first  to  meet 
and  greet  him.  He  demanded  to  be  purified  from  the  guilt  of 
bloodshed,  and  they  purified  him,  made  propitiatory  offerings, 

1  Smith. 
45 


46  THESEUS   FOUNDS  ATHENS 

and  also  entertained  him  in  their  houses,  being  the  first  persons 
from  whom  he  had  received  any  kindness  on  his  journey. 

It  is  said  to  have  been  on  the  eighth  day  of  the  month  Cro- 
nion,  which  is  now  called  Hecatombaion,  that  he  came  to  his 
own  city.  On  entering  it  he  found  public  affairs  disturbed  by 
factions,  and  the  house  of  ^Egeus  in  great  disorder ;  for  Medea, 
who  had  been  banished  from  Corinth,  was  living  with  ;£geus, 
and  had  engaged  by  her  drugs  to  enable  ^Egeus  to  have  chil- 
dren. She  was  the  first  to  discover  who  Theseus  was,  while 
JEgeus,  who  was  an  old  man,  and  feared  every  one  because  of 
the  disturbed  state  of  society,  did  not  recognize  him.  Conse- 
quently she  advised  JEgeus  to  invite  him  to  a  feast,  that  she 
might  poison  him. 

Theseus  accordingly  came  to  ^Egeus's  table.  He  did  not 
wish  to  be  the  first  to  tell  his  name,  but,  to  give  his  father  an 
opportunity  of  recognizing  him,  he  drew  his  sword,  as  if  he 
meant  to  cut  some  of  the  meat  with  it,  and  showed  it  to  ALgeus. 
JEgtus  at  once  recognized  it,  overset  the  cup  of  poison,  looked 
closely  at  his  son,  and  embraced  him.  He  then  called  a  public 
meeting  and  made  Theseus  known  as  his  son  to  the  citizens, 
with  whom  he  was  already  very  popular  because  of  his  bravery. 
It  is  said  that  when  the  cup  was  overset  the  poison  was  spilt  in 
the  place  where  now  there  is  the  enclosure  in  the  Delphinium, 
for  there  ^Egeus  dwelt;  and  the  Hermes  to  the  east  of  the 
temple  there  they  call  the  one  who  is  "  at  the  door  of  ^Egeus." 

But  the  sons  of  Pallas,  who  had  previously  to  this  expected 
that  they  would  inherit  the  kingdom  on  the  death  of  ^Egeus 
without  issue,  now  that  Theseus  was  declared  the  heir,  were 
much  enraged,  first  that  ^Egeus  should  be  king,  a  man  who  was 
merely  an  adopted  child  of  Pandion,  and  had  no  blood  relation- 
ship to  Erechtheus,  and  next  that  Theseus,  a  stranger  and  a 
foreigner,  should  inherit  the  kingdom.  They  consequently 
declared  war. 

Dividing  themselves  into  two  bodies,  the  one  proceeded  to 
march  openly  upon  the  city  from  Sphettus,  under  the  command 
of  Pallas  their  father,  while  the  other  lay  in  ambush  at  Garget- 
tus,  in  order  that  they  might  fall  upon  their  opponents  on  two 
sides  at  once.  But  there  was  a  herald  among  them  named 
Leos,  of  the  township  of  Agnus,  who  betrayed  the  plans  of  the 


THESEUS  FOUNDS  ATHENS       47 

sons  of  Pallas  to  Theseus.  He  suddenly  attacked  those  who 
were  in  ambush,  and  killed  them  all,  hearing  which  the  other 
body  under  Pallas  dispersed.  From  this  time  forth  they  say 
that  the  township  of  Pallene  has  never  intermarried  with  that 
of  Agnus,  and  that  it  is  not  customary  amongst  them  for  her- 
alds to  begin  a  proclamation  with  the  words  "  Acouete  Leo," 
(Oyez)  for  they  hate  the  name  of  Leo  because  of  the  treachery 
of  that  man. 

Shortly  after  this  the  ship  from  Crete  arrived  for  the  third 
time  to  collect  the  customary  tribute.  Most  writers  agree  that 
the  origin  of  this  was,  that  on  the  death  of  Androgeus,  in  At- 
tica, which  was  ascribed  to  treachery,  his  father  Minos  went  to 
war,  and  wrought  much  evil  to  the  country,  which  at  the  same 
time  was  afflicted  by  scourges  from  heaven  (for  the  land  did 
not  bear  fruit,  and  there  was  a  great  pestilence,  and  the  rivers 
sank  into  the  earth). 

So  that  as  the  oracle  told  the  Athenians  that,  if  they  pro- 
pitiated Minos  and  came  to  terms  with  him,  the  anger  of  heaven 
would  cease  and  they  should  have  a  respite  from  their  suffer- 
ings, they  sent  an  embassy  to  Minos  and  prevailed  on  him  to 
make  peace,  on  the  condition  that  every  nine  years  they  should 
send  him  a  tribute  of  seven  youths  and  seven  maidens.  The 
most  tragic  of  the  legends  states  these  poor  children  when  they 
reached  Crete  were  thrown  into  the  Labyrinth,  and  there  either 
were  devoured  by  the  Minotaur  or  else  perished  with  hunger, 
being  unable  to  find  the  way  out.  The  Minotaur,  as  Euripides 
tells  us,  was 

"  A  form  commingled,  and  a  monstrous  birth, 
Half  man,  half  bull,  in  twofold  shape  combined." 

So  when  the  time  of  the  third  payment  of  the  tribute  ar- 
rived, and  those  fathers  who  had  sons  not  yet  grown  up  had  to 
submit  to  draw  lots,  the  unhappy  people  began  to  revile  ^Egeus, 
complaining  that  he,  although  the  author  of  this  calamity,  yet 
took  no  share  in  their  affliction,  but  endured  to  see  them  left 
childless,  robbed  of  their  own  legitimate  offspring,  while  he 
made  a  foreigner  and  a  bastard  the  heir  to  his  kingdom. 

This  vexed  Theseus,  and  determining  not  to  hold  aloof,  but 
to  share  the  fortunes  of  the  people,  he  came  forward  and  offered 


48  THESEUS  FOUNDS  ATHENS 

himself  without  being  drawn  by  lot.  The  people  all  admired 
his  courage  and  patriotism,  and  y£geus  finding  that  his  prayers 
and  entreaties  had  no  effect  on  his  unalterable  resolution,  pro- 
ceeded to  choose  the  rest  by  lot.  Hellanicus  says  that  the  city 
did  not  select  the  youths  and  maidens  by  lot,  but  that  Minos 
himself  came  thither  and  chose  them,  and  that  he  picked  out 
Theseus  first  of  all,  upon  the  usual  conditions,  which  were  that 
the  Athenians  should  furnish  a  ship,  and  that  the  youths  should 
embark  in  it  and  sail  with  him,  not  carrying  with  them  any 
weapon  of  war;  and  that  when  the  Minotaur  was  slain,  the 
tribute  should  cease. 

Formerly,  no  one  had  any  hope  of  safety ;  so  they  used  to 
send  out  the  ship  with  a  black  sail,  as  if  it  were  going  to  a  cer- 
tain doom;  but  now  Theseus  so  encouraged  his  father,  and 
boasted  that  he  would  overcome  the  Minotaur,  that  he  gave  a 
second  sail,  a  white  one,  to  the  steersman,  and  charged  him  on 
his  return,  if  Theseus  were  safe,  to  hoist  the  white  one,  if  not, 
the  black  one  as  a  sign  of  mourning.  But  Simonides  says  that 
it  was  not  a  white  sail  which  was  given  by  y£geus,  but  "a 
scarlet  sail  embrued  in  holm  oak's  juice,"  and  that  this  was 
agreed  on  by  him  as  the  signal  of  safety.  The  ship  was 
steered  by  Phereclus,  the  son  of  Amarsyas,  according  to 
Simonides. 

When  they  reached  Crete,  according  to  most  historians  and 
poets,  Ariadne  fell  in  love  with  Theseus,  and  from  her  he  re- 
ceived the  clew  of  string,  and  was  taught  how  to  thread  the 
mazes  of  the  Labyrinth.  He  slew  the  Minotaur,  and,  taking 
with  him  Ariadne  and  the  youths,  sailed  away.  Pherecydes 
also  says  that  Theseus  also  knocked  out  the  bottoms  of  the 
Cretan  ships,  to  prevent  pursuit.  But  Demon  says  that  Tau- 
rus, Minos'  general,  was  slain  in  a  sea-fight  in  the  harbor, 
when  Theseus  sailed  away. 

But  according  to  Philochorus,  when  Minos  instituted  his 
games,  Taurus  was  expected  to  win  every  prize,  and  was 
grudged  this  honor ;  for  his  great  influence  and  his  unpopular 
manners  made  him  disliked,  and  scandal  said  that  he  was  too 
intimate  with  Pasiphae.  On  this  account,  when  Theseus  offered 
to  contend  with  him,  Minos  agreed.  And,  as  it  was  the  custom 
in  Crete  for  women  as  well  as  men  to  be  spectators  of  the 


THESEUS  FOUNDS  ATHENS       49 

games,  Ariadne  was  present,  and  was  struck  with  the  appear- 
ance of  Theseus,  and  his  strength,  as  he  conquered  all  compet- 
itors. Minos  was  especially  pleased,  in  the  wrestling  match, 
at  Taurus's  defeat  and  shame,  and,  restoring  the  children  to 
Theseus,  remitted  the  tribute  for  the  future. 

As  he  approached  Attica,  on  his  return,  both  he  and  his 
steersman  in  their  delight  forgot  to  hoist  the  sail  which  was  to 
be  a  signal  of  their  safety  to  ^Egeus ;  and  he  in  his  despair 
flung  himself  down  the  cliffs  and  perished.  Theseus,  as  soon 
as  he  reached  the  harbor,  performed  at  Phalerum  the  sacrifices 
whicn  he  had  vowed  to  the  gods  if  he  returned  safe,  and  sent 
off  a  herald  to  the  city  with  the  news  of  his  safe  return. 

This  man  met  with  many  who  were  lamenting  the  death  of 
the  king,  and,  as  was  natural,  with  others  who  were  delighted 
at  the  news  of  their  safety,  and  who  congratulated  him  and 
wished  to  crown  him  with  garlands.  These  he  received,  but 
placed  them  on  his  herald's  staff,  and  when  he  came  back  to 
the  seashore,  finding  that  Theseus  had  not  completed  his  liba- 
tion, he  waited  outside  the  temple,  not  wishing  to  disturb  the 
sacrifice.  When  the  libation  was  finished  he  announced  the 
death  of  ^Egeus,  and  then  they  all  hurried  up  to  the  city  with 
loud  lamentations :  wherefore  to  this  day,  at  the  Oschophoria, 
they  say  that  it  is  not  the  herald  that  is  crowned,  but  his  staff, 
and  that  at  the  libations  the  bystanders  cry  out,  "  Eleleu,  lou, 
lou ! "  of  which  cries  the  first  is  used  by  men  in  haste,  or  raising 
the  paean  for  battle,  while  the  second  is  used  by  persons  in  sur- 
prise and  trouble. 

Theseus,  after  burying  his  father,  paid  his  vow  to  Apollos 
on  the  seventh  day  of  the  month  Pyanepsion ;  for  on  this  day 
it  was  that  the  rescued  youths  went  up  into  the  city.  The  boil- 
ing of  pulse,  which  is  customary  on  this  anniversary,  is  said  to 
be  done  because  the  rescued  youths  put  what  remained  of  their 
pulse  together  into  one  pot,  boiled  it  all,  and  merrily  feasted  on 
it  together.  And  on  this  day  also  the  Athenians  carry  about 
the  Eiresione,  a  bough  of  the  olive  tree  garlanded  with  wool, 
just  as  Theseus  had  before  carried  the  suppliants'  bough, 
and  covered  with  first-fruits  of  all  sorts  of  produce,  because 
the  barrenness  of  the  land  ceased  on  that  day;  and  they 
sing, 

E.   VOL.   I.— 4 


50  THESEUS  FOUNDS  ATHENS 

•  Eiresione,  bring  us  figs, 

And  wheaten  loaves,  and  oil, 
And  wine  to  quaff,  that  we  may  all 
Rest  merrily  from  toil." 

However,  some  say  that  these  ceremonies  are  performed  in 
memory  of  the  Heracleidae,  who  were  thus  entertained  by  the 
Athenians;  but  most  writers  tell  the  tale  as  I  have  told  it. 

After  the  death  of  ^Egeus,  Theseus  conceived  a  great  and 
important  design.  He  gathered  together  all  the  inhabitants  of 
Attica  and  made  them  citizens  of  one  city,  whereas  before  they 
had  lived  dispersed,  so  as  to  be  hard  to  assemble  together  ior 
the  common  weal,  and  at  times  even  fighting  with  one  another. 

He  visited  all  the  villages  and  tribes,  and  won  their  consent, 
the  poor  and  lower  classes  gladly  accepting  his  proposals,  while 
he  gained  over  the  more  powerful  by  promising  that  the  new 
constitution  should  not  include  a  king,  but  that  it  should  be  a 
pure  commonwealth,  with  himself  merely  acting  as  general  of 
its  army  and  guardian  of  its  laws,  while  in  other  respects  it 
would  allow  perfect  freedom  and  equality  to  every  one.  By 
these  arguments  he  convinced  some  of  them,  and  the  rest 
knowing  his  power  and  courage  chose  rather  to  be  persuaded 
than  forced  into  compliance. 

He  therefore  destroyed  the  prytanea,  the  senate  house,  and 
the  magistracy  of  each  individual  township,  built  one  common 
prytaneum  and  senate  house  for  them  all  on  the  site  of  the 
present  acropolis,  called  the  city  Athens,  and  instituted  the 
Panathenaic  festival  common  to  all  of  them.  He  also  instituted 
a  festival  for  the  resident  aliens,  on  the  sixteenth  of  the  month, 
Hecatombaion,  which  is  still  kept  up.  And  having,  according 
to  his  promise,  laid  down  his  sovereign  power,  he  arranged  the 
new  constitution  under  the  auspices  of  the  gods ;  for  he  made 
inquiry  at  Delphi  as  to  how  he  should  deal  with  the  city,  ana 
received  the  following  answer: 

"Thou  son  of  /Egeus  and  of  Pittheus'  maid, 
My  father  hath  within  thy  city  laid 
The  bounds  of  many  cities;  weigh  not  down 
Thy  soul  with  thought;  the  bladder  cannot  drown.* 

The  same  thing  they  say  was  afterward  prophesied  by  the 
Sibyl  concerning  the  city,  in  these  words : 


THESEUS  FOUNDS  ATHENS  51 

"The  bladder  may  be  dipped,  but  cannot  drown." 

Wishing  still  further  to  increase  the  number  of  his  citizens, 
he  invited  all  strangers  to  come  and  share  equal  privileges,  and 
they  say  that  the  words  now  used, "  Come  hither  all  ye  peoples," 
was  the  proclamation  then  used  by  Theseus,  establishing  as  it 
were  a  commonwealth  of  all  nations.  But  he  did  not  permit 
his  state  to  fall  into  the  disorder  which  this  influx  of  all  kinds 
of  people  would  probably  have  produced,  but  divided  the  people 
into  three  classes,  of  Eupatridae  or  nobles,  Geomori  or  farm- 
ers, Demiurgi  or  artisans. 

To  the  Eupatridae  he  assigned  the  care  of  religious  rites,  the 
supply  of  magistrates  for  the  city,  and  the  interpretation  of  the 
laws  and  customs  sacred  or  profane ;  yet  he  placed  them  on  an 
equality  with  the  other  citizens,  thinking  that  the  nobles  would 
always  excel  in  dignity,  the  farmers  in  usefulness,  and  the  arti- 
sans in  numbers.  Aristotle  tells  us  that  he  was  the  first  who 
inclined  to  democracy,  and  gave  up  the  title  of  king ;  and  Homer 
seems  to  confirm  this  view  by  speaking  of  the  people  of  the 
Athenians  alone  of  all  the  states  mentioned  in  his  catalogue  of 
ships. 

Theseus  also  struck  money  with  the  figure  of  a  bull,  either 
alluding  to  the  bull  of  Marathon,  or  Taurus,  Minos'  general,  or 
else  to  encourage  tarming  among  the  citizens.  Hence,  they  say, 
came  the  words,  "  worth  ten,"  or  "  worth  a  hundred  oxen."  He 
permanently  annexed  Megara  to  Attica,  and  set  up  the  famous 
pillar  on  the  Isthmus,  on  which  he  wrote  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  countries  in  two  trimeter  lines,  of  which  the  one 
looking  east  says, 

"This  is  not  Peloponnesus,  but  Ionia, 
and  the  one  looking  west  says, 

"  This  is  Peloponnesus,  not  Ionia." 

And  also  he  instituted  games  there,  in  emulation  of  Hera- 
cles; that,  just  as  Heracles  had  ordained  that  the  Greeks 
should  celebrate  the  Olympic  games  in  honor  of  Zeus,  so  by 
Theseus'  appointment  they  should  celebrate  the  Isthmian 
games  in  honor  of  Poseidon. 


THE  FORMATION  OF  THE  CASTES  IN  INDIA 

B.C.   1200 

GUSTAVE  LE  BON '  W.  W.  HUNTER 

The  institution  of  caste  was  not  peculiar  to  India.  In  Rome  there 
was  a  long  struggle  over  the  connubium.  Among  the  Greeks  the  right 
of  commensality,  or  eating  together,  was  restricted.  In  fact,  the  phe- 
nomena of  caste  are  world-wide  in  their  extent.  In  India  the  priests  and 
nobles  contended  for  the  first  place.  India  had  progressed  along  the 
line  of  ethnic  evolution  from  a  loose  confederacy  of  tribes  into  several 
nations,  ruled  by  kings  and  priests,  and  the  iron  fetters  of  caste  were  be- 
coming more  rigidly  welded.  At  first  the  father  of  the  family  was  the 
priest.  Then  the  chiefs  and  sages  took  the  office  of  spiritual  guide,  and 
conducted  the  sacrifices.  As  writing  was  unknown,  the  liturgies  were 
learned  by  heart,  and  handed  down  in  families.  The  exclusive  knowl- 
edge of  the  ancient  hymns  became  hereditary,  as  it  were.  The  minis- 
trants  increased  in  number,  and  thus  sprang  up  the  powerful  priestly 
caste. 

Then  the  warrior  class  arose  and  grew  strong  in  numbers  and  power, 
becoming  differentiated  from  the  agriculturists,  and  forming  the  military 
caste.  The  husbandmen  drifted  into  another  caste,  and  the  three  orders 
were  rigidly  separated  by  a  cessation  of  intermarriage. 

At  the  bottom  came  the  Sudras,  or  slave  bands,  the  servile  dregs  of 
the  population.  In  course  of  time,  from  various  influences,  the  third 
class  became  almost  eliminated  in  many  provinces.  From  the  cradle  to 
the  grave  these  cruel  barriers  still  intervene  between  the  strata  of  the 
people,  relentless  as  fate  and  insurmountable  as  death. 

GUSTAVE  LE   BON 

T  N  ancient  times  the  power  of  kings  [in  India]  was  only  nomi- 
nal. In  the  Aryan  village,  forming  a  little  republic,  the 
chief,  bearing  the  name  of  rajah,  was  secure  in  his  fortress, 
exercising  full  sway.  Such  was  the  political  system  prevailing 
in  India  through  all  the  ages,  and  which  has  always  been  re- 
spected by  the  conquerors,  whoever  they  might  be.  So,  for  so 

1  Translated  from  the  French  by  Chauncey  C.  Starkweather. 
52 


THE   CASTES   IN   INDIA  53 

many  centuries  back  we  see  arise  the  first  elements  of  an  organi- 
zation which  still  endures. 

We  find  here  also  the  beginnings  of  that  system  of  castes, 
which,  at  first  indistinct  and  floating,  when  the  classes  sought 
only  to  be  distinguished  from  each  other,  was  to  become  so  rigid, 
when  it  was  constituted  under  the  influence  of  ethnological  rea- 
sons, as  to  dig  fathomless  abysses  between  the  races. 

In  the  Vedas  may  be  traced  the  progression  of  the  distance 
between  the  priests  and  the  warriors,  at  first  slight,  and  then 
increasing  more  and  more.  The  division  of  functions  did  not 
stop  there.  While  the  sacrificing  priest  was  consecrating  him- 
self more  exclusively  day  by  day  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
sacred  rites  and  to  the  composition  of  hymns ;  while  the  war- 
rior passed  his  days  in  adventurous  expeditions  or  daring  feats, 
what  would  have  become  of  the  land  and  what  would  it  have 
produced  if  others  had  not  applied  themselves  without  ceasing, 
to  cultivate  >t  ?  A  third  class  became  distinct,  the  agricultur- 
ists. 

In  one  of  the  last  hymns  of  Rig  Veda  these  three  classes 
appear,  absolutely  separated  and  already  designated  by  the 
three  words  Brahmans,  Kchatryas,  Vaisyas. 

The  fourth  class,  that  of  the  Sudras,  was  to  arise  later  and 
to  include  the  mass  of  conquered  peoples  when  the  latter  joined 
the  circle  of  Aryan  civilization.  The  classes,  hitherto  min- 
gling, now  became  rigidly  separated  castes. 

The  most  important  of  these  divisions,  and  that  which  was 
first  formed,  was  the  one  between  the  priests  and  the  warriors. 
The  Brahmans,  intermediaries  between  men  and  the  gods,  soon 
became  more  and  more  exacting,  and  finally  considered  them- 
selves as  entirely  superior  beings  and  were  accepted  as  such. 

The  distinction  between  the  warriors  and  the  agriculturists 
also  soon  became  marked,  arising  doubtless  rather  from  a  differ- 
ence in  fortune  than  in  functions. 

The  war  chief,  who  returned  Jaden  with  booty,  covered  him- 
self with  rings  of  gold,  rich  vestments,  and  gleaming  arms.  He 
became  "rajah,"  that  is  to  say  "shining,"  for  such  was  the 
meaning  of  the  word  at  the  Vedic  epoch. 

Still  no  absolute  barrier  between  the  classes  had  arisen. 
They  mingled  to  offer  sacrifices,  and  sometimes  ate  in  common. 


54  THE  CASTES  IN   INDIA 

Heredity  of  office  and  profession  began  to  be  established.  The 
sacred  songs  were  handed  down  in  families,  as  were  also  the 
functions  of  the  sacrificers.  And  here  among  the  Vedic 
Aryans  are  seen  in  process  of  elaboration  the  germs  of  the 
institution  which  later  gained  so  much  power  in  India  and  which 
dominates  it  still  with  apparent  immutability. 

The  system  of  castes  has  been  the  corner-stone  of  all  the 
institutions  of  India  for  two  thousand  years.  Such  is  its  im- 
portance, and  so  generally  is  it  misunderstood,  that  it  will  be 
well  briefly  to  explain  its  origins,  sources,  and  consequences. 
A  system,  the  result  of  which  is  to  permit  a  handful  of  Euro- 
peans to  hold  sway  over  two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  men 
deserves  the  attention  of  the  observer. 

The  system  of  castes  has  existed  for  more  than  twenty  cen- 
turies in  India.  It  doubtless  had  its  origin  in  the  recognition 
of  the  inevitable  laws  of  heredity.  When  the  white-skinned 
conquerors,  whom  we  call  Aryans,  penetrated  India,  they 
found,  in  addition  to  other  invaders  of  Turanian  origin,  black, 
half -savage  populations  whom  they  subjugated.  The  conquerors 
were  half-pastoral,  half-stationary  tribes,  under  chiefs  whose 
authority  was  counterbalanced  by  the  all-powerful  influence  of 
the  priests  whose  duty  it  was  to  secure  the  protection  of  the 
gods.  Their  occupations  were  divided  into  classes,  that  of 
Brahmans  or  priests,  Kchatryas  or  warriors,  and  Vaisyas,  labor- 
ers or  artisans.  The  last  class  was  perhaps  formed  by  the  in- 
vaders anterior  to  the  Aryans,  whom  we  have  just  mentioned. 

These  divisions  corresponded,  as  is  evident,  to  our  three 
ancient  castes,  the  clergy,  the  nobility,  and  the  third  estate. 
Beneath  these  classes  was  the  aboriginal  population,  the  Su- 
dras,  forming  three  quarters  of  the  whole  population. 

Experience  soon  revealed  the  inconveniences  which  might 
rise  from  the  mixture  of  the  superior  race  with  the  inferior 
ones,  and  all  the  proscriptions  of  religion  tended  thereafter  to 
prevent  it.  "  Every  country  which  gives  birth  to  men  of  mixed 
races,"  said  the  ancient  law-giver  of  the  Hindus,  the  sage 
Manu,  "  is  soon  destroyed  together  with  those  who  inhabit  it." 
The  decree  is  harsh,  but  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  its 
truth.  Every  superior  race  which  has  mingled  with  another 
too  inferior  has  speedily  been  degraded  or  absorbed  by  it. 


THE  CASTES   IN   INDIA  55 

The  Spaniards  in  America,  the  Portuguese  in  India,  are  proofs 
of  the  sad  results  produced  by  such  mixtures.  The  descendants 
of  the  brave  Portuguese  adventurers,  who  in  other  days  con- 
quered part  of  India,  fill  to-day  the  employments  of  servants, 
and  the  name  of  their  race  has  become  a  term  of  contempt. 

Imbued  with  the  importance  of  this  anthropological  truth, 
the  Code  of  Manu,  which  has  been  the  law  of  India  for  so  many 
centuries,  and  which,  like  all  codes,  is  the  result  of  long  ante- 
rior experiences,  neglects  nothing  to  preserve  the  purity  of 
blood. 

It  pronounces  severe  penalties  against  all  intermingling  of 
the  superior  castes  between  themselves,  and  especially  with  the 
caste  of  the  Sudras.  There  are  no  frightful  threats  which  it 
does  not  employ  to  keep  the  latter  apart. 

But  in  the  course  of  the  centuries  nature  triumphed  over 
these  formidable  prohibitions.  Woman  always  has  her  charms, 
no  matter  how  inferior  she  may  be  in  caste.  In  spite  of  Manu, 
crossings  of  caste  were  numerous,  and  one  need  not  travel  India 
throughout  to  perceive  that,  to-day,  the  populations  of  all  the 
races  are  mixed  to  a  large  extent.  The  number  of  individuals 
white  enough  to  prove  that  their  blood  is  quite  pure  is  very 
restricted.  The  word  caste,  taken  in  its  primitive  sense,  is  no 
longer  a  synonym  of  color,  as  it  used  to  be  in  Sanscrit,  and,  if 
caste  had  had  only  formerly  prevailing  ethnological  reasons  to 
invoke,  it  would  have  had  no  reason  for  continuing.  In  fact, 
the  primitive  divisions  of  caste  have  long  since  disappeared. 
They  were  replaced  by  new  divisions,  the  origin  of  which  is 
other  than  the  difference  of  races,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
Brahmans,  who  still  form  the  less  mixed  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion. 

Among  the  causes  which  have  perpetuated  the  system  of 
castes,  the  law  of  heredity  has  furthermore  continued  to  play  a 
fundamental  part.  Aptness  is  inevitably  hereditary  among  the 
Hindus,  and,  also  inevitably,  the  son  follows  the  profession  of 
the  father.  The  principle  of  heredity  of  the  professions  being 
universally  admitted,  there  has  resulted  the  formation  of  castes 
as  numerous  as  the  professions  themselves,  and  to-day  in  India 
castes  are  numbered  by  the  thousand.  Each  new  profession 
has  for  an  immediate  consequence  the  formation  of  a  new  caste. 


56  THE  CASTES  IN  INDIA 

The  European  who  comes  to  India  to  live  soon  perceives  to 
what  an  extent  the  castes  have  multiplied  in  observing  the 
number  of  different  persons  whom  he  is  obliged  to  hire  to  wait 
on  him.  To  the  two  preceding  causes  of  the  formations  of 
castes,  the  ethnological  cause,  now  very  weak,  and  the  profes- 
sional, which  is  still  very  strong,  are  added  political  office,  and 
the  heterogeneity  of  religious  beliefs. 

The  castes  springing  from  political  office  might,  strictly 
speaking,  be  placed  in  the  category  of  professional  castes,  but 
those  produced  by  diversity  of  religious  beliefs  should  be  at- 
tached to  none  of  the  preceding  causes.  In  theory,  that  is,  only 
judged  by  the  reading  of  books,  all  India  would  be  divided  into 
two  or  three  great  religions  only.  But  practically  these  re- 
ligions are  very  numerous.  New  gods,  considered  as  simple 
incarnations  of  ancient  ones,  are  born  and  die  every  day,  and 
their  votaries  soon  form  a  new  caste  as  rigid  in  its  exclusions  as 
the  others. 

Two  fundamental  signs  mark  the  conformity  of  castes,  and 
separate  from  all  the  others  the  persons  belonging  to  them. 
The  first  is  that  the  individuals  of  the  same  caste  cannot  eat 
except  among  themselves.  The  second  is  that  they  can  only 
marry  among  themselves. 

These  two  proscriptions  are  quite  fundamental,  and  the  first 
not  less  than  the  second.  You  may  meet  by  the  hundreds  in 
India  Brahmans  who  are  employed  by  the  government  in  the 
post-office  and  railway  service,  or  even  Brahmans  who  are  beg- 
gars. But  the  humble  functionary  or  wretched  mendicant 
would  rather  die  than  sit  at  table  with  the  viceroy  of  India. 

The  quality  of  Brahmans  is  hereditary,  like  a  title  of  nobility 
in  Europe.  It  is  not  a  synonym  of  priest,  as  is  generally  be- 
lieved, because  it  is  from  this  caste  that  priests  are  recruited. 
This  caste  was  formerly  so  exalted  that  the  rank  of  royalty  was 
not  sufficient  to  enable  one  to  aspire  to  the  hand  of  a  Brahman's 
daughter. 

The  Hindu  would  rather  die  than  violate  the  laws  of  his 
caste.  Nothing  is  more  terrible  than  for  him  to  lose  it.  Such 
loss  may  be  compared  to  excommunication  in  the  middle  ages, 
or  to  a  condemnation  for  an  infamous  crime  in  modern  Europe. 
To  lose  his  caste  is  to  lose  everything  at  one  blow,  parents,  re- 


57 

lations,  and  fortune.  Every  one  turns  his  back  upon  the  culprit 
and  refuses  to  have  any  dealings  with  him.  He  must  enter  the 
casteless  category,  which  is  employed  only  for  the  most  abject 
functions. 

As  to  the  social  and  political  consequences  of  such  a  system, 
the  only  social  bond  among  the  Hindus  is  caste.  Outside  of 
caste  the  world  does  not  exist  for  him.  He  is  separated  from 
persons  of  another  caste  by  an  abyss  much  deeper  than  that 
which  separates  Europeans  of  the  most  different  nationalities. 
The  latter  may  intermarry,  but  persons  of  different  castes  can- 
not. The  result  is  that  every  village  possesses  as  many  groups 
as  there  are  castes  represented. 

With  such  a  system  union  against  a  master  is  impossible. 
This  system  of  caste  explains  the  phenomenon  of  two  hun- 
d"ed  and  fifty  millions  of  men  obeying,  without  a  murmur,  sixty 
ot  seventy  thousand  strangers l  whom  they  detest.  The  only 
fatherland  of  the  Hindu  is  his  caste.  He  has  never  had  an- 
other. His  country  is  not  a  fatherland  to  him,  and  he  has 
never  dreamed  of  its  unity. 

w.  w.  HUNTER 

At  a  very  early  period  we  catch  sight  of  a  nobler  race  from 
the  northwest,  forcing  its  way  in  among  the  primitive  peoples 
of  India.  This  race  belonged  to  the  splendid  Aryan  or  Indo- 
Germanic  stock  from  which  the  Brahman,  the  Rajput,  and  the 
Englishman  alike  descend.  Its  earliest  home  seems  to  have 
been  in  Western  Asia.  From  that  common  camping-ground 
certain  branches  of  the  race  started  for  the  east,  others  for  the 
farther  west.  One  of  the  western  offshoots  built  Athens  and 
Sparta,  and  became  the  Greek  nation ;  another  went  on  to  Italy, 
and  reared  the  city  on  the  Seven  Hills,  which  grew  into  Imperial 
Rome.  A  distant  colony  of  the  same  race  excavated  the  silver 
ores  of  prehistoric  Spain ;  and  when  we  first  catch  a  sight  of 
ancient  England,  we  see  an  Aryan  settlement  fishing  in  wattle 
canoes,  and  working  the  tin  mines  of  Cornwall.  Meanwhile 
other  branches  of  the  Aryan  stock  had  gone  forth  from  the 
primitive  Asiatic  home  to  the  east.  Powerful  bands  found 

1  English. 


5g  THE  CASTES   IN   INDIA 

their  way  through  the  passes  of  the  Himalayas  into  the  Pun- 
jab,  and  spread  themselves,  chiefly  as  Brahmans  and  Rajputs, 

over  India. 

The  Aryan  offshoots,  alike  to  the  east  and  to  the  west,  as- 
serted  their  superiority  over  the  earlier  peoples  whom  they 
found  in  possession  of  the  soil.  The  history  of  ancient  Europe 
is  the  story  of  the  Aryan  settlements  around  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean ;  and  that  wide  term,  modern  civilization,  merely 
means  the  civilization  of  the  western  branches  of  the  same  race. 
The  history  of  India  consists  in  like  manner  of  the  history  of 
the  eastern  offshoots  of  the  Aryan  stock  who  settled  in  that 
land. 

We  know  little  regarding  these  noble  Aryan  tribes  in  their 
early  camping-ground  in  Western  Asia.  From  words  preserved 
in  the  languages  of  their  long-separated  descendants  in  Europe 
and  India,  scholars  infer  that  they  roamed  over  the  grassy 
steppes  with  their  cattle,  making  long  halts  to  raise  crops  of 
grain.  They  had  tamed  most  of  the  domestic  animals;  were 
acquainted  with  iron ;  understood  the  arts  of  weaving  and  sew- 
ing; wore  clothes,  and  ate  cooked  food.  They  lived  the  hardy 
life  of  the  comparatively  temperate  zone;  and  the  feeling  of 
cold  seems  to  be  one  of  the  earliest  common  remembrances  of 
the  eastern  and  the  western  branches  of  the  race. 

The  forefathers  of  the  Greek  and  the  Roman,  of  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  Hindu,  dwelt  together  in  Western  Asia,  spoke  the 
same  tongue,  worshipped  the  same  gods.  The  languages  of 
Europe  and  India,  although  at  first  sight  they  seem  wide  apart, 
are  merely  different  growths  from  the  original  Aryan  speech. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  common  words  of  family  life.  The 
names  for  father,  mother,  brother,  sister,  and  widow  are  the 
same  in  most  of  the  Aryan  languages,  whether  spoken  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ganges,  of  the  Tiber,  or  of  the  Thames.  Thus 
the  word  daughter,  which  occurs  in  nearly  all  of  them,  has  been 
derived  from  the  Aryan  root  dugh,  which  in  Sanscrit  has  the 
form  of  dnh,  to  milk ;  and  perhaps  preserves  the  memory  of  the 
time  when  the  daughter  was  the  little  milkmaid  in  the  primitive 
Aryan  household. 

The  ancient  religions  of  Europe  and  India  had  a  common 
origin.    They  were  to  some  extent  made  up  of  the  sacred 


THE   CASTES   IN   INDIA  59 

stories  or  myths  which  our  joint  ancestors  had  learned  while 
dwelling  together  in  Asia.  Several  of  the  Vedic  gods  were  also 
the  gods  of  Greece  and  Rome ;  and  to  this  day  the  Divinity  is 
adored  by  names  derived  from  the  same  old  Aryan  word  (deva, 
the  Shining  One),  by  Brahmans  in  Calcutta,  by  the  Protestant 
clergy  of  England,  and  by  Roman  Catholic  priests  in  Peru. 

The  Vedic  hymns  exhibit  the  Indian  branch  of  the  Aryans 
on  their  march  to  the  southeast,  and  in  their  new  homes.  The 
earliest  songs  disclose  the  race  still  to  the  north  of  the  Khai- 
bar  pass,  in  Kabul ;  the  later  ones  bring  them  as  far  as  the 
Ganges.  Their  victorious  advance  eastward  through  the  in- 
termediate tract  can  be  traced  in  the  Vedic  writings  almost 
step  by  step.  The  steady  supply  of  water  among  the  five 
rivers  of  the  Punjab  led  the  Aryans  to  settle  down  from  their 
old  state  of  wandering  half-pastoral  tribes  into  regular  com- 
munities of  husbandmen.  The  Vedic  poets  praised  the  rivers 
which  enabled  them  to  make  this  great  change — perhaps  the 
most  important  step  in  the  progress  of  a  race.  "  May  the  In- 
dus," they  sang,  "  the  far-famed  giver  of  wealth,  hear  us ;  [fer- 
tilizing our]  broad  fields  with  water."  The  Himalayas,  through 
whose  southwestern  passes  they  had  reached  India,  and  at 
whose  southern  base  they  long  dwelt,  made  a  lasting  impression 
on  their  memory.  The  Vedic  singer  praised  "Him  whose 
greatness  the  snowy  ranges,  and  the  sea,  and  the  aerial  river 
declare."  The  Aryan  race  in  India  never  forgot  its  northern 
home.  There  dwelt  its  gods  and  holy  singers ;  and  there  elo- 
quence descended  from  heaven  among  men ;  while  high  amid 
the  Himalayan  mountains  lay  the  paradise  of  deities  and  heroes, 
where  the  kind  and  the  brave  forever  repose. 

The  Rig-Veda  forms  the  great  literary  memorial  of  the  early 
Aryan  settlements  in  the  Punjab.  The  age  of  this  venerable 
hymnal  is  unknown.  Orthodox  Hindus  believe,  without  evi- 
dence, that  it  existed  "from  before  all  time,"  or  at  least  from 
3001  years  B.C.  European  scholars  have  inferred  from  astro- 
nomical data  that  its  composition  was  going  on  about  1400  B.C. 
But  the  evidence  might  have  been  calculated  backward,  and  in- 
serted later  in  the  Veda.  We  only  know  that  the  Vedic  religion 
had  been  at  work  long  before  the  rise  of  Buddhism  in  the  sixth 
century  B.C.  The  Rig- Veda  is  a  very  old  collection  of  1017 


60  THE  CASTES  IN  INDIA 

short  poems,  chiefly  addressed  to  the  gods,  and  containing  ior 
580  verses.  Its  hymns  show  us  the  Aryans  on  the  banks  of 
the  Indus,  divided  into  various  tribes,  sometimes  at  war  with 
each  other,  sometimes  united  against  the  "black-skinned" 
aborigines.  Caste,  in  its  later  sense,  is  unknown.  Each 
father  of  a  family  is  the  priest  of  his  own  household.  The 
chieftain  acts  as  father  and  priest  to  the  tribe;  but  at  the 
greater  festivals  he  chooses  some  one  specially  learned  in  holy 
offerings  to  conduct  the  sacrifice  in  the  name  of  the  people. 
The  king  himself  seems  to  have  been  elected ;  and  his  title  of 
Vis-pat,  literally  "Lord  of  the  Settlers,"  survives  in  the  old 
Persian  Vis-paiti,  and  as  the  Lithuanian  Wiez-patis  in  east-cen- 
tral Europe  at  this  day.  Women  enjoyed  a  high  position;  and 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  hymns  were  composed  by  ladies  and 
queens.  Marriage  was  held  sacred.  Husband  and  wife  were 
both  "rulers  of  the  house"  (dampati')\  and  drew  near  to  the 
gods  together  in  prayer.  The  burning  of  widows  on  their  hus- 
bands' funeral  pile  was  unknown ;  and  the  verses  in  the  Veda 
which  the  Brahmans  afterwards  distorted  into  a  sanction  for  the 
practice,  have  the  very  opposite  meaning.  "Rise,  woman," 
says  the  Vedic  text  to  the  mourner ;  "  come  to  the  world  of 
life.  Come  to  us.  Thou  hast  fulfilled  thy  duties  as  a  wife  to 
thy  husband." 

The  Aryan  tribes  in  the  Veda  have  blacksmiths,  copper- 
smiths, and  goldsmiths  among  them,  besides  carpenters,  bar- 
bers, and  other  artisans.  They  fight  from  chariots,  and  freely 
use  the  horse,  although  not  yet  the  elephant,  in  war.  They 
have  settled  down  as  husbandmen,  till  their  fields  with  the 
plough,  and  live  in  villages  or  towns.  But  they  also  cling  to 
their  old  wandering  life,  with  their  herds  and  "cattle-pens." 
Cattle,  indeed,  still  form  their  chief  wealth— the  coin  in  which 
payment  of  fines  is  made— reminding  us  of  the  Latin  word  for 
money,  pecunia,  from  pectts,  a  herd.  One  of  the  Vedic  words 
for  war  literally  means  "a  desire  for  cows."  Unlike  the  mod- 
ern Hindus,  the  Aryans  of  the  Veda  ate  beef;  used  a  fermented 
liquor  or  beer,  made  from  the  soma  plant;  and  offered  the  same 
strong  meat  and  drink  to  their  gods.  Thus  the  stout  Aryans 
spread  eastward  through  Northern  India,  pushed  on  from  be- 
hind by  later  arrivals  of  their  own  stock,  and  driving  before 


THE  CASTES  IN  INDIA  61 

them,  or  reducing  to  bondage,  the  earlier  "black-skinned" 
races.  They  marched  in  whole  communities  from  one  river 
valley  to  another;  each  house-father  a  warrior,  husbandman, 
and  priest ;  with  his  wife,  and  his  little  ones,  and  his  cattle. 

These  free-hearted  tribes  had  a  great  trust  in  themselves 
and  their  gods.  Like  other  conquering  races,  they  believed 
that  both  themselves  and  their  deities  were  altogether  superior 
to  the  people  of  the  land,  and  to  their  poor,  rude  objects  of 
worship.  Indeed,  this  noble  self-confidence  is  a  great  aid  to  the 
success  of  a  nation.  Their  divinities — devas,  literally  "  the  shin- 
ing ones,"  from  the  Sanscrit  root  div,  "to  shine" — were  the 
great  powers  of  nature.  They  adored  the  Father-heaven, — 
Dyaush-pitarvn.  Sanscrit,  the  Dies  piter  m  Jupiter  of  Rome,  the 
Zeus  of  Greece ;  and  the  Encompassing  Sky —  Varuna  in  San- 
scrit, Uranus  in  Latin,  Ouranos  in  Greek.  Indra,  or  the  Aque- 
ous Vapor,  that  brings  the  precious  rain  on  which  plenty  or 
famine  still  depends  each  autumn,  received  the  largest  number 
of  hymns.  By  degrees,  as  the  settlers  realized  more  and  more 
keenly  the  importance  of  the  periodical  rains  to  their  new  life 
as  husbandmen,  he  became  the  chief  of  the  Vedic  gods.  "  The 
gods  do  not  reach  unto  thee,  O  Indra,  nor  men ;  thou  overcom- 
est  all  creatures  in  strength."  Agni,  the  God  of  Fire  (Latin 
ignis},  ranks  perhaps  next  to  Indra  in  the  number  of  hymns 
addressed  to  him.  He  is  "  the  Youngest  of  the  Gods,"  "  the 
Lord  and  Giver  of  Wealth."  The  Maruts  are  the  Storm  Gods, 
"  who  make  the  rock  to  tremble,  who  tear  in  pieces  the  forest." 
Ushas,  "  the  High-born  Dawn  "  (Greek  Eos),  "  shines  upon  us 
like  a  young  wife,  rousing  every  living  being  to  go  forth  to  his 
work."  The  Asvins,  the  "  Horsemen  "  or  fleet  outriders  of  the 
dawn,  are  the  first  rays  of  sunrise,  "  Lords  of  Lustre."  The 
Solar  Orb  himself  (Surya),  the  Wind  (Vayu),  the  Sunshine  or 
Friendly  Day  (Mitra),  the  intoxicating  fermented  juice  of  the 
Sacrificial  Plant  (Soma),  and  many  other  deities  are  invoked  in 
the  Veda — in  all,  about  thirty-three  gods,  "  who  are  eleven  in 
heaven,  eleven  on  earth,  and  eleven  dwelling  in  glory  in  mid- 
air." 

The  Aryan  settler  lived  on  excellent  terms  with  his  bright 
gods.  He  asked  for  protection,  with  an  assured  conviction  that 
it  would  be  granted.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  deeply  stirred 


62  THE  CASTES   IN   INDIA 

by  the  glory  and  mystery  of  the  earth  and  the  heavens.  In 
deed,  the  majesty  of  nature  so  filled  his  mind,  that  when  he 
praises  any  one  of  his  Shining  Gods,  he  can  think  of  none  other 
for  the  time  being,  and  adores  him  as  the  supreme  ruler. 
Verses  may  be  quoted  declaring  each  of  the  greater  deities  to 
be  the  One  Supreme:  "Neither  gods  nor  men  reach  unto 
thee,  O  Indra ! "  Another  hymn  speaks  of  Soma  as  "  king  of 
heaven  and  earth,  the  conqueror  of  all."  To  Varuna  also  it  is 
said,  "  Thou  art  lord  of  all,  of  heaven  and  earth ;  thou  art  king 
of  all  those  who  are  gods,  and  of  all  those  who  are  men."  The 
more  spiritual  of  the  Vedic  singers,  therefore,  may  be  said  to 
have  worshipped  One  God,  though  not  One  alone. 

"  In  the  beginning  there  arose  the  Golden  Child.  He  was 
the  one  born  lord  of  all  that  is.  He  established  the  earth  and 
this  sky.  Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

"  He  who  gives  life,  he  who  gives  strength ;  whose  command 
all  the  Bright  Gods  revere ;  whose  shadow  is  immortality,  whose 
shadow  is  death.  Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our 
sacrifice  ? 

"  He  who,  through  his  power,  is  the  one  king  of  the  breath- 
ing and  awakening  world.  He  who  governs  all,  man  and  beast. 
Who  is  the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

"  He  through  whom  the  sky  is  bright  and  the  earth  firm ; 
he  through  whom  the  heaven  was  established,  nay,  the  highest 
heaven ;  he  who  measured  out  the  light  and  the  air.  Who  is 
the  God  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? 

"  He  who  by  his  might  looked  even  over  the  water-clouds ; 
he  who  alone  is  God  above  all  gods.  Who  is  the  God  to  whom 
we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice  ? " 

While  the  aboriginal  races  buried  their  dead  in  the  earth  or 
under  rude  stone  monuments,  the  Aryan— alike  in  India,  in 
Greece,  and  in  Italy— made  use  of  the  funeral-pile.  Several 
exquisite  Sanscrit  hymns  bid  farewell  to  the  dead :— "  Depart 
thou,  depart  thou  by  the  ancient  paths  to  the  place  whither  our 
fathers  have  departed.  Meet  with  the  Ancient  Ones;  meet 
with  the  Lord  of  Death.  Throwing  off  thine  imperfections,  go 
to  thy  home.  Become  united  with  a  body;  clothe  thyself  in  a 
hining  form."  "  Let  him  depart  to  those  for  whom  flow  the 
rivers  of  nectar.  Let  him  depart  to  those  who,  through  medi- 


THE  CASTES  IN  INDIA  63 

tation,  have  obtained  the  victory ;  who,  by  fixing  their  thoughts 
on  the  unseen,  have  gone  to  heaven.  Let  him  depart  to  the 
mighty  in  battle,  to  the  heroes  who  have  laid  down  their  lives 
for  others,  to  those  who  have  bestowed  their  goods  on  the  poor." 
The  doctrine  of  transmigration  was  at  first  unknown.  The  cir- 
cle round  the  funeral-pile  sang  with  a  firm  assurance  that  their 
friend  went  direct  to  a  state  of  blessedness  and  reunion  with 
the  loved  ones  who  i^d  gone  before.  "  Do  thou  conduct  us  to 
heaven,"  says  a  hymn  of  the  later  Atharva-Veda ;  "let  us  be 
with  our  wives  and  children."  "  In  heaven,  where  our  friends 
dwell  in  bliss — having  left  behind  the  infirmities  of  the  body, 
free  from  lameness,  free  from  crookedness  of  limb — there  let  us 
behold  our  parents  and  our  children."  "  May  the  water-shed- 
ding Spirits  bear  thee  upward,  cooling  thee  with  their  swift 
motion  through  the  air,  and  sprinkling  thee  with  dew."  "  Bear 
him,  carry  him ;  let  him,  with  all  his  faculties  complete,  go  to 
the  world  of  the  righteous.  Crossing  the  dark  valley  which 
spreadeth  boundless  around  him,  let  the  unborn  soul  ascend  to 
heaven.  Wash  the  feet  of  him  who  is  stained  with  sin;  let  him 
go  upward  with  cleansed  feet.  Crossing  the  gloom,  gazing 
with  wonder  in  many  directions,  let  the  unborn  soul  go  up  to 
heaven." 

By  degrees  the  old  collection  of  hymns,  or  the  Rig-Veda,  no 
longer  sufficed.  Three  other  collections  or  service-books  were 
therefore  added,  making  the  Four  Vedas.  The  word  Veda  is 
from  the  same  root  as  the  Latin  vid-ere,  to  see :  the  early  Greek 
feid-enai,  infinitive  of  oida,  I  know :  and  the  English  wisdom, 
or  I  wit.  The  Brahmans  taught  that  the  Veda  was  divinely 
inspired,  and  that  it  was  literally  "  the  wisdom  of  God."  There 
was,  first,  the  Rig-Veda,  or  the  hymns  in  their  simplest  form. 
Second,  the  Sama-Veda,  made  up  of  hymns  of  the  Rig-Veda 
to  be  used  at  the  Soma  sacrifice.  Third,  the  Yajur-Veda, 
consisting  not  only  of  Rig-Vedic  hymns,  but  also  of  prose 
sentences,  to  be  used  at  the  great  sacrifices ;  and  divided  into 
two  editions,  the  Black  and  White  Yajur.  The  fourth,  or 
Atharva-Veda,  was  compiled  from  the  least  ancient  hymns  at 
the  end  of  the  Rig-Veda,  very  old  religious  spells,  and  later 
sources.  Some  of  its  spells  have  a  similarity  to  the  ancient 
German  and  Lithuanian  charms,  and  appear  to  have  come  down 


64  THE  CASTES   IN   INDIA 

from  the  most  primitive  times,  before  the  Indian  and  European 
branches  of  the  Aryan  race  struck  out  from  their  common 

home. 

To  each  of  the  four  Vedas  were  attached  prose  works,  called 
Brahmanas,  in  order  to  explain  the  sacrifices  and  the  duties  of 
the  priests.  Like  the  Four  Vedas,  the  Brahmanas  were  held  to 
be  the  very  word  of  God.  The  Vedas  and  the  Brahmanas  form 
the  revealed  Scriptures  of  the  Hindus— the  sruti,  literally 
"  Things  heard  from  God."  The  Vedas  supplied  their  divinely- 
inspired  psalms,  and  the  Brahmanas  their  divinely-inspired  the- 
ology or  body  of  doctrine.  To  them  were  afterward  added  the 
Sutras,  literally  "  Strings  of  pithy  sentences  "  regarding  laws 
and  ceremonies.  Still  later  the  Upanishads  were  composed, 
treating  of  God  and  the  soul;  the  Aranyakas,  or  "Tracts  for 
the  forest  recluse ; "  and,  after  a  very  long  interval,  the  Puranas, 
or  "Traditions  from  of  old."  All  these  ranked,  however,  not 
as  divinely-inspired  knowledge,  or  things  "heard  from  God" 
(sruti},  like  the  Vedas  and  Brahmanas,  but  only  as  sacred  tra- 
ditions— smriti,  literally  " The  things  remembered" 

Meanwhile  the  Four  Castes  had  been  formed.  In  the  old 
Aryan  colonies  among  the  Five  Rivers  of  the  Punjab,  each 
house-father  was  a  husbandman,  warrior,  and  priest.  But  by 
degrees  certain  gifted  families,  who  composed  the  Vedic  hymns 
or  learned  them  off  by  heart,  were  always  chosen  by  the  king 
to  perform  the  great  sacrifices.  In  this  way  probably  the 
priestly  caste  sprang  up.  As  the  Aryans  conquered  more  ter- 
ritory, fortunate  soldiers  received  a  larger  share  of  the  lands 
than  others,  and  cultivated  it  not  with  their  own  hands,  but  by 
means  of  the  vanquished  non-Aryan  tribes.  In  this  way  the 
Four  Castes  arose.  First,  the  priests  or  Brahmans.  Second, 
the  warriors  or  fighting  companions  of  the  king,  called  Rajputs 
or  Kchatryas,  literally  "  of  the  royal  stock."  Third,  the  Aryan 
agricultural  settlers,  who  kept  the  old  name  of  Vaisyas,  from 
the  root  vis,  which  in  the  primitive  Vedic  period  had  included 
the  whole  Aryan  people.  Fourth,  the  Sudras,  or  conquered 
non-Aryan  tribes,  who  became  serfs.  The  three  first  castes 
were  of  Aryan  descent,  and  were  honored  by  the  name  of  the 
Twice-born  Castes.  They  could  all  be  present  at  the  sacrifices, 
and  they  worshipped  the  same  Bright  Gods.  The  Sudras  were 


THE  CASTES   IN   INDIA  65 

"  the  slave-bands  of  black  descent "  of  the  Veda.  They  were 
distinguished  from  their  "Twice-born"  Aryan  conquerors  as 
being  only  "  Once-born,"  and  by  many  contemptuous  epithets. 
They  were  not  allowed  to  be  present  at  the  great  national  sac- 
rifices, or  at  the  feasts  which  followed  them.  They  could  never 
rise  out  of  their  servile  condition ;  and  to  them  was  assigned  the 
severest  toil  in  the  fields,  and  all  the  hard  and  dirty  work  of  the 
village  community. 

The  Brahmans  or  priests  claimed  the  highest  rank.  But 
they  seemed  to  have  had  a  long  struggle  with  the  Kchatryas, 
or  warrior  caste,  before  they  won  their  proud  position  at  the 
head  of  the  Indian  people.  They  afterward  secured  them- 
selves in  that  position  by  teaching  that  it  had  been  given  to 
them  by  God.  At  the  beginning  of  the  world,  they  said,  the 
Brahman  proceeded  from  the  mouth  of  the  Creator,  the  Kchat- 
ryas or  Rajput  from  his  arms,  the  Vaisya  from  his  thighs  or 
belly,  and  the  Sudra  from  his  feet.  This  legend  is  true  so  far 
that  the  Brahmans  were  really  the  brain  power  of  the  Indian 
people,  the  Kchatryas  its  armed  hands,  the  Vaisyas  the  food- 
growers,  and  the  Sudras  the  down-trodden  serfs.  When  the 
Brahmans  had  established  their  power,  they  made  a  wise  use  of 
it.  From  the  ancient  Vedic  times  they  recognized  that  if  they 
were  to  exercise  spiritual  supremacy,  they  must  renounce  earthly 
pomp.  In  arrogating  the  priestly  function,  they  gave  up  all 
claim  to  the  royal  office.  They  were  divinely  appointed  to  be 
the  guides  of  nations  and  the  counsellors  of  kings,  but  they 
could  not  be  kings  themselves.  As  the  duty  of  the  Sudra  was 
to  serve,  of  the  Vaisya  to  till  the  ground  and  follow  middle-class 
trades  or  crafts ;  so  the  business  of  the  Kchatryas  was  to  fight 
the  public  enemy,  and  of  the  Brahman  to  propitiate  the  national 
gods. 

Each  day  brought  to  the  Brahmans  its  routine  of  cere- 
monies, studies,  and  duties.  Their  whole  life  was  mapped  out 
into  four  clearly  defined  stages  of  discipline.  For  their  exist- 
ence, in  its  full  religious  significance,  commenced  not  at  birth, 
but  on  being  invested  at  the  close  of  childhood  with  the  sacred 
thread  of  the  Twice-born.  Their  youth  and  early  manhood 
were  to  be  entirely  spent  in  learning  the  Veda  by  heart  from 
an  older  Brahman,  tending  the  sacred  fire,  and  serving  their 
E.,  VOL.  i.— 5 


66  THE  CASTES  IN  INDIA 

preceptor.  Having  completed  his  long  studies,  the  young 
Brahman  entered  on  the  second  stage  of  his  life,  as  a  house- 
holder. He  married,  and  commenced  a  course  of  family  duties. 
When  he  had  reared  a  family,  and  gained  a  practical  knowledge 
of  the  world,  he  retired  into  the  forest  as  a  reduse,  for  the  third 
period  of  his  life;  feeding  on  roots  or  fruits,  practising  his 
religious  duties  with  increased  devotion.  The  fourth  stage  was 
that  of  the  ascetic  or  religious  mendicant,  wholly  withdrawn 
from  earthly  affairs,  and  striving  to  attain  a  condition  of  mind 
which,  heedless  of  the  joys,  or  pains,  or  wants  of  the  body,  is 
intent  only  on  its  final  absorption  into  the  deity.  The  Brah- 
man, in  this  fourth  stage  of  his  life,  ate  nothing  but  what  was 
given  to  him  unasked,  and  abode  not  more  than  one  day  in  any 
village,  lest  the  vanities  of  the  world  should  find  entrance  into 
his  heart.  This  was  the  ideal  life  prescribed  for  a  Brahman, 
and  ancient  Indian  literature  shows  that  it  was  to  a  large  extent 
practically  carried  out.  Throughout  his  whole  existence  the 
true  Brahman  practised  a  strict  temperance ;  drinking  no  wine, 
using  a  simple  diet,  curbing  the  desires ;  shut  off  from  the  tu- 
mults of  war,  as  his  business  was  to  pray,  not  to  fight,  and 
having  his  thoughts  ever  fixed  on  study  and  contemplation. 
"  What  is  this  world  ? "  says  a  Brahman  sage.  "  It  is  even  as 
the  bough  of  a  tree,  on  which  a  bird  rests  for  a  night,  and  in 
the  morning  flies  away." 

The  Brahmans,  therefore,  were  a  body  of  men  who,  in  an 
early  stage  of  this  world's  history,  bound  themselves  by  a  rule 
of  life  the  essential  precepts  of  which  were  self -culture  and  self- 
restraint.  The  Brahmans  of  the  present  India  are  the  result  of 
3000  years  of  hereditary  education  and  temperance;  and  they 
have  evolved  a  type  of  mankind  quite  distinct  from  the  sur- 
rounding population.  Even  the  passing  traveller  in  India 
marks  them  out,  alike  from  the  bronze-cheeked,  large-limbed, 
leisure-loving  Rajput  or  Kchatryas,  the  warrior  caste  of  Aryan 
descent ;  and  from  the  dark-skinned,  flat-nosed,  thick-lipped  low 
castes  of  non-Aryan  origin,  with  their  short  bodies  and  bullet 
heads.  The  Brahman  stands  apart  from  both,  tall  and  slim, 
with  finely-modelled  lips  and  nose,  fair  complexion,  high  fore- 
head, and  slightly  cocoanut  shaped  skull— the  man  of  self-cen- 
tred refinement.  He  is  an  example  of  a  class  becoming  the 


THE  CASTES   IN  INDIA  67 

ruling  power  in  a  country,  not  by  force  of  arms,  but  by  the  vig- 
or of  hereditary  culture  and  temperance.  One  race  has  swept 
across  India  after  another,  dynasties  have  risen  and  fallen, 
religions  have  spread  themselves  over  the  land  and  disappeared. 
But  since  the  dawn  of  history  the  Brahman  has  calmly  ruled ; 
swaying  the  minds  and  receiving  the  homage  of  the  people,  and 
accepted  by  foreign  nations  as  the  highest  type  of  Indian  man- 
kind. The  position  which  the  Brahmans  won  resulted  in  no 
small  measure  from  the  benefits  which  they  bestowed.  For 
their  own  Aryan  countrymen  they  developed  a  noble  language 
and  literature.  The  Brahmans  were  not  only  the  priests  and 
philosophers,  but  also  the  lawgivers,  the  men  of  science  and  the 
poets  of  their  race.  Their  influence  on  the  aboriginal  peoples, 
the  hill  and  forest  races  of  India,  was  even  more  important. 
To  these  rude  remnants  of  the  flint  and  stone  ages  they 
brought  in  ancient  times  a  knowledge  of  the  metals  and  the 
gods. 

As  a  social  league,  Hinduism  arranged  the  people  into  the 
old  division  of  the  "  Twice-born "  Aryan  castes,  namely,  the 
Brahmans,  Kchatryas,  Vaisyas ;  and  the  "  Once-born  "  castes, 
consisting  of  the  non-Aryan  Sudras  and  the  classes  of  mixed 
descent.  This  arrangement  of  the  Indian  races  remains  to  the 
present  day.  The  "  Twice-born  "  castes  still  wear  the  sacred 
thread,  and  claim  a  joint,  although  an  unequal,  inheritance  in 
the  holy  books  of  the  Veda.  The  "  Once-born  "  castes  are  still 
denied  the  sacred  thread ;  and  they  were  not  allowed  to  study 
the  holy  books,  until  the  English  set  up  schools  in  India  for  all 
classes  of  the  people.  But  while  caste  is  thus  founded  on  the 
distinctions  of  race,  it  has  been  influenced  by  two  other,  sys- 
tems of  division,  namely,  the  employments  of  the  people,  and 
the  localities  in  which  they  live.  Even  in  the  oldest  times,  the 
castes  had  separate  occupations  assigned  to  them.  They  could 
be  divided  either  into  Brahmans,  Kchatryas,  Vaisyas,  and  Su- 
dras; or  into  priests,  warriors,  husbandmen,  and  serfs.  They 
are  also  divided  according  to  the  parts  of  India  in  which  they 
live.  Even  the  Brahmans  have  among  themselves  ten  distinct 
classes,  or  rather  nations.  Five  of  these  classes  or  Brahman 
nations  live  to  the  north  of  the  Vindhya  mountains ;  five  of  them 
live  to  the  south.  Each  of  the  ten  feels  itself  to  be  quite  apart 


68  THE  CASTES   IN   INDIA 

from  the  rest ;  and  they  have  among  themselves  no  fewer  than 
1886  subdivisions  or  separate  Brahmanical  tribes.  In  like  man- 
ner, the  Kchatryas  or  Rajputs  number  590  separate  tribes  in 
different  parts  of  India. 

While,  therefore,  Indian  caste  seems  at  first  a  very  simple 
arrangement  of  the  people  into  four  classes,  it  is  in  reality  a  very 
complex  one.  For  it  rests  upon  three  distinct  systems  of  divi- 
sion: namely,  upon  race,  occupation,  and  geographical  position. 
It  is  very  difficult  even  to  guess  at  the  number  of  the  Indian 
castes.  But  there  are  not  fewer  than  3,000  of  them  which  have 
separate  names,  and  which  regard  themselves  as  separate 
classes.  The  different  castes  cannot  intermarry  with  each 
other,  and  most  of  them  cannot  eat  together.  The  ordinary 
rule  is  that  no  Hindu  of  good  caste  can  touch  food  cooked  by  a 
man  of  inferior  caste.  By  rights,  too,  each  caste  should  keep 
to  its  own  occupation.  Indeed,  there  has  been  a  tendency  to 
erect  every  separate  kind  of  employment  or  handicraft  in  each 
separate  province  into  a  distinct  caste.  But,  as  a  matter  of 
practice,  the  castes  often  change  their  occupation,  and  the  lower 
ones  sometimes  raise  themselves  in  the  social  scale.  Thus  the 
Vaisya  caste  were  in  ancient  times  the  tillers  of  the  soil.  They 
have  in  most  provinces  given  up  this  toilsome  occupation,  and 
the  Vaisyas  are  now  the  great  merchants  and  bankers  of  India. 
Their  fair  skins,  intelligent  faces,  and  polite  bearing  must  have 
altered  since  the  days  when  their  forefathers  ploughed,  sowed, 
and  reaped  under  the  hot  sun.  Such  changes  of  employment 
still  occur  on  a  smaller  scale  throughout  India. 

The  system  of  caste  exercises  a  great  influence  upon  the 
industries  of  the  people.  Each  caste  is,  in  the  first  place,  a 
trade-guild.  It  insures  the  proper  training  of  the  youth  of  its 
own  special  craft;  it  makes  rules  for  the  conduct  of  the  caste- 
trade  ;  it  promotes  good  feeling  by  feasts  or  social  gatherings. 
The  famous  manufactures  of  mediaeval  India,  its  muslins,  silks, 
cloth  of  gold,  inlaid  weapons,  and  exquisite  work  in  precious 
stones— were  brought  to  perfection  under  the  care  of  the  castes 
or  trade-guilds.  Such  guilds  may  still  be  found  in  full  work  in 
many  parts  of  India.  Thus,  in  the  northwestern  districts  of 
Bombay  all  heads  of  artisan  families  are  ranged  under  their 
proper  trade-guild.  The  trade-guild  or  caste  prevents  undue, 


THE  CASTES  IN   INDIA  69 

competition  among  the  members,  and  upholds  the  interest  of 
its  own  body  in  any  dispute  arising  with  other  craftsmen. 

In  1873,  for  example,  a  number  of  the  bricklayers  in  Ahmada- 
bad  could  not  find  work.  Men  of  this  class  sometimes  added 
to  their  daily  wages  by  rising  very  early  in  the  morning,  and 
working  overtime.  But  when  several  families  complained  that 
they  could  not  get  employment,  the  bricklayers'  guild  met,  and 
decided  that  as  there  was  not  enough  work  for  all,  no  member 
should  be  allowed  to  work  in  extra  hours.  In  the  same  city, 
the  cloth  dealers  in  1 872  tried  to  cut  down  the  wages  of  the 
sizers  or  men  who  dress  the  cotton  cloth.  The  sizers1  guild 
refused  to  work  at  lower  rates,  and  remained  six  weeks  on 
strike.  At  length  they  arranged  their  dispute,  and  both  the 
trade-guilds  signed  a  stamped  agreement  fixing  the  rates  for  the 
future.  Each  of  the  higher  castes  or  trade-guilds  in  Ahmada- 
bad  receives  a  fee  from  young  men  on  entering  their  business. 
The  revenue  derived  from  these  fees,  and  from  fines  upon  mem- 
bers who  break  caste  rules,  is  spent  in  feasts  to  the  brethren  of 
the  guild,  and  in  helping  the  poorer  craftsmen  or  their  orphans. 
A  favorite  plan  of  raising  money  in  Surat  is  for  the  members 
of  the  trade  to  keep  a  certain  day  as  a  holiday,  and  to  shut  up 
all  their  shops  except  one.  The  right  to  keep  open  this  one 
shop  is  put  up  to  auction,  and  the  amount  bid  is  expended  on  a 
feast.  The  trade-guild  or  caste  allows  none  of  its  members  to 
starve.  It  thus  acts  as  a  mutual  assurance  society  and  takes 
the  place  of  a  poor-law  in  India.  The  severest  social  penalty 
which  can  be  inflicted  upon  a  Hindu  is  to  be  put  out  of  his 
caste. 

Hinduism  is,  however,  not  only  a  social  league  resting  upon 
caste — it  is  also  a  religious  alliance  based  upon  worship.  As 
the  various  race  elements  of  the  Indian  people  have  been 
welded  into  caste,  so  the  simple  old  beliefs  of  the  Veda,  the  mild 
doctrines  of  Buddha,  and  the  fierce  rites  of  the  non-Aryan 
tribes,  have  been  thrown  into  the  melting-pot,  and  poured  out 
thence  as  a  mixture  of  precious  metal  and  dross,  to  be  worked 
up  into  the  complex  worship  of  the  Hindu  gods. 


FALL  OF  TROY 

B.C.  1184 

GEORGE   GROTE 

The  siege  of  Troy  is  an  event  not  to  be  reckoned  as  history,  although 
Herodotus,  the  "  Father  of  History,"  speaks  of  it  as  such,  and  it  would 
be  quite  impossible  to  understand  the  history  and  character  of  the  Greek 
people  without  a  study  of  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  poems  attributed  to  "  a 
blind  bard  of  Scio's  isle  "—immortal  Homer.  The  campaign  of  the  Greek 
heroes  in  Asia  is  to  be  referred  to  a  hazy  point  in  the  past  when  Europe 
was  just  beginning  to  have  an  Eastern  Question.  A  vast  circle  of  tales 
and  poems  has  gathered  round  this  mythical  event,  and  the  Iliad—  Song 
of  Ilium,  or  Troy — is  still  a  poem  of  unfailing  interest  and  fascination. 

Ilium,  or  Troy,  was  a  city  of  Asia  Minor,  a  little  south  of  the  Helles- 
pont. It  was  the  centre  of  a  powerful  state,  Grecian  in  race  and  lan- 
guage ;  and  when  Paris,  son  of  King  Priam,  visited  Sparta  and  carried  off 
the  beautiful  wife  of  Menelaus,  king  of  Sparta,  all  the  heroes  of  Greece 
banded  together  and  invaded  Priam's  dominions. 

The  twelve  hundred  ships  that  sailed  for  Troy  transported  one  hundred 
thousand  warriors  to  the  valley  of  Simois  and  Scamander.  Among  them 
was  Agamemnon,  "king  of  men,"  brother  of  Menelaus.  He  was  the 
leader,  and  in  his  train  were  Achilles,  "  swift  of  foot " ;  "  god-like,  wise  " 
Ulysses,  King  of  Ithaca,  the  two  Ajaxes, and  the  aged  Nestor.  The  nar- 
rative of  their  adventures  is  told  in  the  Homeric  poems  with  a  power  of 
musical  expression,  a  charm  of  language,  and  a  vividness  of  imagery  un- 
surpassed in  poetry. 

For  ten  years  the  besiegers  encircled  the  city  of  Priam.  After  many 
engagements  and  single  combats  on  "  the  windy  plain  of  Troy  "  the  great 
hero  of  the  Greeks,  Achilles  of  Thessaly,  is  wronged  by  Agamemnon,  who 
carries  away  Briseis,  a  fair  captive  girl  allotted  as  the  spoils  of  war  to 
the  "  Swift-footed."  The  hero  of  Thessaly  thenceforth  refuses  to  join  in 
the  war,  and  sullenly  shuts  himself  up  in  his  tent.  It  is  only  when  his 
dear  friend  Patroclus  has  been  slain  by  the  valiant  Hector,  eldest  son 
of  Priam,  that  he  sallies  forth,  meets  Hector  in  single  combat,  and  finally 
slays  him.  Achilles  then  attaches  the  body  of  Hector  to  his  chariot  and 
insultingly  trails  it  in  the  dust  as  he  drives  three  times  around  the  walls 
of  Troy.  The  Iliad  closes  with  the  funeral  rites  celebrated  over  the 
corpse  of  Hector. 


FALL    OF  TROY  71 

\A7E  now  arrive  at  the  capita]  and  culminating  point  of  the 
Grecian  epic — the  two  sieges  and  captures  of  Troy, 
with  the  destinies  of  the  dispersed  heroes,  Trojan  as  well  as 
Grecian,  after  the  second  and  most  celebrated  capture  and  de- 
struction of  the  city. 

It  would  require  a  large  volume  to  convey  any  tolerable  idea 
of  the  vast  extent  and  expansion  of  this  interesting  fable,  first 
handled  by  so  many  poets,  epic,  lyric,  and  tragic,  with  their 
endless  additions,  transformations,  and  contradictions, — then 
purged  and  recast  by  historical  inquirers,  who,  under  color  of 
setting  aside  the  exaggerations  of  the  poets,  introduced  a  new 
vein  of  prosaic  invention, — lastly,  moralized  and  allegorized  by 
philosophers.  In  the  present  brief  outline  of  the  general  field 
of  Grecian  legend,  or  of  that  which  the  Greeks  believed  to  be 
their  antiquities,  the  Trojan  war  can  be  regarded  as  only  one 
among  a  large  number  of  incidents  upon  which  Hecataeus  and 
Herodotus  looked  back  as  constituting  their  fore-time.  Taken 
as  a  special  legendary  event,  it  is,  indeed,  of  wider  and  larger 
interest  than  any  other,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  single  it  out  from 
the  rest  as  if  it  rested  upon  a  different  and  more  trustworthy 
basis.  I  must,  therefore,  confine  myself  to  an  abridged  narra- 
tive of  the  current  and  leading  facts ;  and  amid  the  numerous 
contradictory  statements  which  are  to  be  found  respecting 
every  one  of  them,  I  know  no  better  ground  of  preference  than 
comparative  antiquity,  though  even  the  oldest  tales  which  we 
possess — those  contained  in  the  Iliad — evidently  presuppose 
others  of  prior  date. 

The  primitive  ancestor  of  the  Trojan  line  of  kings  is  Dar- 
danus,  son  of  Zeus,  founder  and  eponymus  of  Dardania :  in  the 
account  of  later  authors,  Dardanus  was  called  the  son  of  Zeus 
by  Electra,  daughter  of  Atlas,  and  was  further  said  to  have 
come  from  Samothrace,  or  from  Arcadia,  or  from  Italy ;  but  of 
this  Homer  mentions  nothing.  The  first  Dardanian  town 
founded  by  him  was  in  a  lofty  position  on  the  descent  of  Mount 
Ida ;  for  he  was  not  yet  strong  enough  to  establish  himself  on 
the  plain.  But  his  son  Erichthonius,  by  the  favor  of  Zeus,  be- 
came the  wealthiest  of  mankind.  His  flocks  and  herds  having 
multiplied,  he  had  in  his  pastures  three  thousand  mares,  the 
offspring  of  some  of  whom,  by  Boreas,  produced  horses  of  pre- 


73  FALL  OF  TROY 

ternatural  swiftness.  Tros,  the  son  of  Erichthonius,  and  the 
eponym  of  the  Trojans,  had  three  sons — Ilus,  Assaracus,  and 
the  beautiful  Ganymedes,  whom  Zeus  stole  away  to  become  his 
cup-bearer  in  Olympus,  giving  to  his  father  Tros,  as  the  price 
of  the  youth,  a  team  of  immortal  horses. 

From  Ilus  and  Assaracus  the  Trojan  and  Dardanian  lines 
diverge;  the  former  passing  from  Ilus  to  Laomedon,  Priam, 
and  Hector;  the  latter  from  Assaracus  to  Capys,  Anchises, 
and  ^neas.  Ilus  founded  in  the  plain  of  Troy  the  holy  city  of 
Ilium ;  Assaracus  and  his  descendants  remained  sovereigns  of 
Dardania. 

It  was  under  the  proud  Laomedon,  son  of  Ilus,  that  Posei- 
don and  Apollo  underwent,  by  command  of  Zeus,  a  temporary 
servitude ;  the  former  building  the  walls  of  the  town,  the  latter 
tending  the  flocks  and  herds.  When  their  task  was  completed 
and  the  penal  period  had  expired,  they  claimed  the  stipulated 
reward ;  but  Laomedon  angrily  repudiated  their  demand,  and 
even  threatened  to  cut  off  their  ears,  to  tie  them  hand  and  foot, 
and  to  sell  them  in  some  distant  island  as  slaves.  He  was  pun- 
ished for  this  treachery  by  a  sea-monster,  whom  Poseidon  sent 
to  ravage  his  fields  and  to  destroy  his  subjects.  Laomedon 
publicly  offered  the  immortal  horses  given  by  Zeus  to  his 
father  Tros,  as  a  reward  to  any  one  who  would  destroy  the 
monster.  But  an  oracle  declared  that  a  virgin  of  noble  blood 
must  be  surrendered  to  him,  and  the  lot  fell  upon  Hesione, 
daughter  of  Laomedon  himself.  Heracles,  arriving  at  this 
critical  moment,  killed  the  monster  by  the  aid  of  a  fort  built  for 
him  by  Athene  and  the  Trojans,  so  as  to  rescue  both  the  ex- 
posed maiden  and  the  people ;  but  Laomedon,  by  a  second  act 
of  perfidy,  gave  him  mortal  horses  in  place  of  the  matchless 
animals  which  had  been  promised.  Thus  defrauded  of  his  due, 
Heracles  equipped  six  ships,  attacked  and  captured  Troy,  and 
killed  Laomedon,  giving  Hesione  to  his  friend  and  auxiliary 
Telamon,  to  whom  she  bore  the  celebrated  archer  Teucros.  A 
painful  sense  of  this  expedition  was  preserved  among  the  in- 
habitants of  the  historical  town  of  Ilium,  who  offered  no  wor- 
ship to  Heracles. 

Among  all  the  sons  of  Laomedon,  Priam  was  the  only  one 
who  had  remonstrated  against  the  refusal  of  the  well-earned 


FALL  OF  TROY  73 

guerdon  of  Heracles ;  for  which  the  hero  recompensed  him  by 
placing  him  on  the  throne.  Many  and  distinguished  were  his 
sons  and  daughters,  as  well  by  his  wife  Hecuba,  daughter  of 
Cisseus,  as  by  other  women.  Among  the  sons  were  Hector, 
Paris,  Deiphobus,  Helenus,  Troilus,  Polites,  Polydorus;  among 
the  daughters,  Laodice,  Creusa,  Polyxena,  and  Cassandra. 

The  birth  of  Paris  was  preceded  by  formidable  presage; 
for  Hecuba  dreamed  that  she  was  delivered  of  a  firebrand,  and 
Priam,  on  consulting  the  soothsayers,  was  informed  that  the 
son  about  to  be  born  would  prove  fatal  to  him.  Accordingly 
he  directed  the  child  to  be  exposed  on  Mount  Ida ;  but  the  in- 
auspicious kindness  of  the  gods  preserved  him ;  and  he  grew  up 
amid  the  flocks  and  herds,  active  and  beautiful,  fair  of  hair  and 
symmetrical  in  person,  and  the  special  favorite  of  Aphrodite. 

It  was  to  this  youtn,  in  his  solitary  shepherd's  walk  on 
Mount  Ida,  that  the  three  goddesses,  Here,  Athene,  and 
Aphrodite,  were  conducted,  in  order  that  he  might  determine 
the  dispute  respecting  their  comparative  beauty,  which  had 
arisen  at  the  nuptials  of  Peleus  and  Thetis, — a  dispute  brought 
about  in  pursuance  of  the  arrangement,  and  in  accomplishment 
of  the  deep-laid  designs  of  Zeus.  For  Zeus,  remarking  with 
pain  the  immoderate  numbers  of  the  then  existing  heroic  race, 
pitied  the  earth  for  the  overwhelming  burden  which  she  was 
compelled  to  bear,  and  determined  to  lighten  it  by  exciting  a 
destructive  and  long-continued  war.  Paris  awarded  the  palm 
of  beauty  to  Aphrodite,  who  promised  him  in  recompense  the 
possession  of  Helen,  wife  of  the  Spartan  Menelaus,  —  the 
daughter  of  Zeus  and  the  fairest  of  living  women.  At  the  in- 
stance of  Aphrodite,  ships  were  built  for  him,  and  he  embarked 
on  the  enterprise  so  fraught  with  eventual  disaster  to  his  native 
city,  in  spite  of  the  menacing  prophecies  of  his  brother  Helenus, 
and  the  always  neglected  warnings  of  Cassandra, 

Paris,  on  arriving  at  Sparta,  was  hospitably  entertained  by 
Menelaus  as  well  as  by  Castor  and  Pollux,  and  was  enabled  to 
present  the  rich  gifts  which  he  had  brought  to  Helen.  Mene- 
laus then  departed  to  Crete,  leaving  Helen  to  entertain  his  Tro- 
jan guest — a  favorable  moment,  which  was  employed  by  Aphro- 
dite to  bring  about  the  intrigue  and  the  elopement.  Paris  car- 
ried away  with  him  both  Helen  and  a  large  sum  of  money  be- 


74  FALL  OF  TROY 

longing  to  Menelaus,  made  a  prosperous  voyage  to  Troy,  and 
arrived  there  safely  with  his  prize  on  the  third  day. 

Menelaus,  informed  by  Iris  in  Crete  of  the  perfidious  return 
made  by  Paris  for  his  hospitality,  hastened  home  in  grief  and 
indignation  to  consult  with  his  brother  Agamemnon,  as  well  as 
with  the  venerable  Nestor,  on  the  means  of  avenging  the  out- 
rage. They  made  known  the  event  to  the  Greek  chiefs  around 
them,  among  whom  they  found  universal  sympathy ;  Nestor, 
Palamedes,  and  others  went  round  to  solicit  aid  in  a  c  ntem- 
plated  attack  of  Troy,  under  the  command  of  Agamemnon  to 
whom  each  chief  promised  both  obedience  and  unwearied  exer- 
tion until  Helen  should  be  recovered  Ten  years  were  spent 
in  equipping  the  expedition.  The  goddesses  Here  and  Athene, 
incensed  at  the  preference  given  by  Paris  to  Aphrodite,  and 
animated  by  steady  attachment  to  Argos,  Sparta,  and  Mycenae, 
took  an  active  part  in  the  cause,  and  the  horses  of  Here  were 
fatigued  with  her  repeated  visits  to  the  different  parts  of 
Greece. 

By  such  efforts  a  force  was  at  length  assembled  at  Aulis  in 
Boeotia,  consisting  of  1,186  ships  and  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  men — a  force  outnumbering  by  more  than  ten  to  one 
anything  that  the  Trojans  themselves  could  oppose,  and  supe- 
rior to  the  defenders  of  Troy  even  with  all  her  allies  included. 
It  comprised  heroes  with  their  followers  from  the  extreme 
points  of  Greece — from  the  northwestern  portions  of  Thessaly 
under  Mount  Olympus,  as  well  as  the  western  islands  of  Duli- 
chium  and  Ithaca,  and  the  eastern  islands  of  Crete  and  Rhodes. 
Agamemnon  himself  contributed  100  ships  manned  with  the 
subjects  of  his  kingdom  Mycenae,  besides  furnishing  60  ships 
to  the  Arcadians,  who  possessed  none  of  their  own.  Menelaus 
brought  with  him  60  ships,  Nestor  from  Pylus,  90,  Idomeneus 
from  Crete  and  Diomedes  from  Argos,  80  each.  Forty  ships 
were  manned  by  the  Elians,  under  four  different  chiefs;  the 
like  number  under  Meges  from  Dulichium  and  the  Echinades, 
and  under  Thoas  from  Calydon  and  the  other  ALtoli&n  towns. 
Odysseus  from  Ithaca,  and  Ajax  from  Salamis,  brought  12 
ships  each.  The  Abantes  from  Eubcea,  under  Elphenor,  filled 
40  vessels;  the  Boeotians,  under  Peneleos  and  Leitus,  50;  the 
inhabitants  of  Orchomenus  and  Aspledon,  30;  the  light-armed 


FALL   OF  TROY  >-., 

Locrians,  under  Ajax  son  of  Oileus,  40;  the  Phocians  as  many 
The  Athenians,  under  Menestheus,  a  chief  distinguished  for  his 
skill  in  marshalling  an  army,  mustered  50  ships ;  the  Myrmidons 
from  Phthia  and  Hellas,  under  Achilles,  assembled  in  50  ships; 
Protesilaus  from  Phylace  and  Pyrasus,  and  Eurypylus  from 
Ormenium,  each  came  with  40  ships ;  Machaon  and  Podaleirius, 
from  Trikka,  with  30;  Eumelus,  from  Pherse  and  the  lake 
Boebeis,  with  1 1 ;  and  Philoctetes  from  Meliboea  with  7 ;  the 
Lapithse,  under  Polypoetes,  son  of  Peirithous,  filled  40  vessels, 
the  ^inianes  and  Perrhaebians,  under  Guneus,  22;  and  the 
Magnetes,  under  Prothous,  40;  these  last  two  were  from  the 
no"thernmost  parts  of  Thessaly,  near  the  mountains  Pelion  and 
Olympus  From  Rhodes,  under  Tlepolemus,  son  of  Heracles, 
appeared  9  ships ;  from  Syme,  under  the  comely  but  effeminate 
Nireus,  3 ;  from  Cos,  Crapathus,  and  the  neighboring  islands, 
30,  under  the  orders  of  Pheidippus  and  Antiphus,  sons  of 
Thessalus  and  grandsons  of  Heracles. 

Among  this  band  of  heroes  were  included  the  distinguished 
warriors  Ajax  and  Diomedes,  and  the  sagacious  Nestor;  while 
Agamemnon  himself,  scarcely  inferior  to  either  of  them  in 
prowess,  brought  with  him  a  high  reputation  for  prudence 
in  command.  But  the  most  marked  and  conspicuous  of  all 
were  Achilles  and  Odysseus;  the  former  a  beautiful  youth 
born  of  a  divine  mother,  swift  in  the  race,  of  fierce  temper  and 
irresistible  might ;  the  latter  not  less  efficient  as  an  ally,  from 
his  eloquence,  his  untiring  endurance,  his  inexhaustible  re- 
sources under  difficulty,  and  the  mixture  of  daring  courage  with 
deep-laid  cunning  which  never  deserted  him :  the  blood  of  the 
arch-deceiver  Sisyphus,  through  an  illicit  connection  with  his 
mother  Anticleia,  was  said  to  flow  in  his  veins,  and  he  was  espe- 
cially patronized  and  protected  by  the  goddess  Athene.  Odys- 
seus, unwilling  at  first  to  take  part  in  the  expedition,  had  even 
simulated  insanity;  but  Palamedes,  sent  to  Ithaca  to  invite 
him,  tested  the  reality  of  his  madness  by  placing  in  the  furrow 
where  Odysseus  was  ploughing  his  infant  son  Telemachus. 
Thus  detected,  Odysseus  could  not  refuse  to  join  the  Achaean 
host,  but  the  prophet  Halitherses  predicted  to  him  that  twenty 
years  would  elapse  before  he  revisited  his  native  land.  To 
Achilles  the  gods  had  promised  the  full  effulgence  of  heroic 


76  FALL  OF  TROY 

glory  before  the  walls  of  Troy ;  nor  could  the  place  be  taken 
without  both  his  cooperation  and  that  of  his  son  after  him.  But 
they  had  forewarned  him  that  this  brilliant  career  would  be 
rapidly  brought  to  a  close ;  and  that  if  he  desired  a  long  life,  he 
must  remain  tranquil  and  inglorious  in  his  native  land.  In 
spite  of  the  reluctance  of  his  mother  Thetis  he  preferred  few 
years  with  bright  renown,  and  joined  the  Achaean  host.  When 
Nestor  and  Odysseus  came  to  Phthia  to  invite  him,  both  he 
and  his  intimate  friend  Patroclus  eagerly  obeyed  the  call. 

Agamemnon  and  his  powerful  host  set  sail  from  Aulis ;  but 
being  ignorant  of  the  locality  and  the  direction,  they  landed  by 
mistake  in  Teuthrania,  a  part  of  Mysia  near  the  river  Caicus, 
and  began  to  ravage  the  country  under  the  persuasion  that  it 
was  the  neighborhood  of  Troy.  Telephus,  the  king  of  the 
country,  opposed  and  repelled  them,  but  was  ultimately  de- 
feated and  severely  wounded  by  Achilles.  The  Greeks,  now 
discovering  their  mistake,  retired ;  but  their  fleet  was  dispersed 
by  a  storm  and  driven  back  to  Greece.  Achilles  attacked  and 
took  Scyrus,  and  there  married  Deidamia,  the  daughter  of 
Lycomedes.  Telephus,  suffering  from  his  wounds,  was  directed 
by  the  oracle  to  come  to  Greece  and  present  himself  to  Achilles 
to  be  healed,  by  applying  the  scrapings  of  the  spear  with  which 
the  wound  had  been  given ;  thus  restored,  he  became  the  guide 
of  the  Greeks  when  they  were  prepared  to  renew  their  expe- 
dition. 

The  armament  was  again  assembled  at  Aulis,  but  the  god 
dess  Artemis,  displeased  with  the  boastful  language  of  Aga 
memnon,  prolonged  the  duration  of  adverse  winds,  and  the 
offending  chief  was  compelled  to  appease  her  by  the  well-known 
sacrifice  of  his  daughter  Iphigenia.  They  then  proceeded  to 
Tenedos,  from  whence  Odysseus  and  Menelaus  were  dispatched 
as  envoys  to  Troy,  to  redemand  Helen  and  the  stolen  property. 
In  spite  of  the  prudent  counsels  of  Antenor,  who  received  the 
two  Grecian  chiefs  with  friendly  hospitality,  the  Trojans  re- 
jected the  demand,  and  the  attack  was  resolved  upon.  It  was 
foredoomed  by  the  gods  that  the  Greek  who  first  landed  should 
perish :  Protesilaus  was  generous  enough  to  put  himself  upon 
this  forlorn  hope,  and  accordingly  fell  by  the  hand  of  Hector. 

Meanwhile,  the  Trojans  had  assembled  a  large  body  of 


FALL  OF  TROY  77 

allies  from  various  parts  of  Asia  Minor  and  Thrace:  Darda- 
nians  under  JEneas,  Lycians  under  Sarpedon,  Mysians,  Ca- 
rians,  Maeonians,  Alizonians,  Phrygians,  Thracians,  and  Paeo- 
nians.  But  vain  was  the  attempt  to  oppose  the  landing  of  the 
Greeks:  the  Trojans  were  routed,  and  even  the  invulnerable 
Cyncus,  son  of  Poseidon,  one  of  the  great  bulwarks  of  the  de- 
fense, was  slain  by  Achilles.  Having  driven  the  Trojans  with- 
in their  walls,  Achilles  attacked  and  stormed  Lyrnessus,  Peda- 
sus,  Lesbos,  and  other  places  in  the  neighborhood,  twelve  towns 
on  the  sea-coast,  and  eleven  in  the  interior :  he  drove  off  the 
oxen  of  ^Eneas  and  pursued  the  hero  himself,  who  narrowly 
escaped  with  his  life :  he  surprised  and  killed  the  youthful  Tro- 
ilus,  son  of  Priam,  and  captured  several  of  the  other  sons, 
whom  he  sold  as  prisoners  into  the  islands  of  the  ^Egean.  He 
acquired  as  his  captive  the  fair  Briseis,  while  Chryseis  was 
awarded  to  Agamemnon ;  he  was,  moreover,  eager  to  see  the 
divine  Helen,  the  prize  and  stimulus  of  this  memorable  strug- 
gle; and  Aphrodite  and  Thetis  contrived  to  bring  about  an 
interview  between  them. 

At  this  period  of  the  war  the  Grecian  army  was  deprived  of 
Palamedes,  one  of  its  ablest  chiefs.  Odysseus  had  not  forgiven 
the  artifice  by  which  Palamedes  had  detected  his  simulated  in- 
sanity, nor  was  he  without  jealousy  of  a  rival  clever  and  cun- 
ning in  a  degree  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  himself ;  one  who  had 
enriched  the  Greeks  with  the  invention  of  letters  of  dice  for 
amusement  of  night-watches  as  well  as  with  other  useful  sug- 
gestions. According  to  the  old  Cyprian  epic,  Palamedes  was 
drowned  while  fishing  by  the  hands  of  Odysseus  and  Diomedes. 
Neither  in  the  lliadnor  the  Odyssey  does  the  name  of  Palamedes 
occur ;  the  lofty  position  which  Odysseus  occupies  in  both  those 
poems — noticed  with  some  degree  of  displeasure  even  by  Pindar, 
who  described  Palamedes  as  the  wiser  man  of  the  two — is  suffi- 
cient to  explain  the  omission.  But  in  the  more  advanced  period 
of  the  Greek  mind,  when  intellectual  superiority  came  to  acquire 
a  higher  place  in  the  public  esteem  as  compared  with  military 
prowess,  the  character  of  Palamedes,  combined  with  his  un- 
happy fate,  rendered  him  one  of  the  most  interesting  person- 
ages in  the  Trojan  legend,  ^schylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripi- 
des each  consecrated  to  him  a  special  tragedy ;  but  the  mode 


78  FALL  OF  TROY 

of  his  death  as  described  in  the  old  epic  was  not  suitable  to 
Athenian  ideas,  and  accordingly  he  was  represented  as  having 
been  falsely  accused  of  treason  by  Odysseus,  who  caused  gold 
to  be  buried  in  his  tent,  and  persuaded  Agamemnon  and  the 
Grecian  chiefs  that  Palamedeshad  received  it  from  the  Trojans. 
He  thus  forfeited  his  life,  a  victim  to  the  calumny  of  Odysseus 
and  to  the  delusion  of  the  leading  Greeks.  The  philosopher 
Socrates,  in  the  last  speech  made  to  his  Athenian  judges, 
alludes  with  solemnity  and  fellow-feeling  to  the  unjust  condem- 
nation of  Palamedes  as  analogous  to  that  which  he  himself  was 
about  to  suffer ;  and  his  companions  seem  to  have  dwelt  with 
satisfaction  on  the  comparison.  Palamedes  passed  for  an  in- 
stance of  the  slanderous  enmity  and  misfortune  which  so  often 
wait  upon  superior  genius. 

In  these  expeditions  the  Grecian  army  consumed  nine  years, 
during  which  the  subdued  Trojans  dared  not  give  battle  with- 
out their  walls  for  fear  of  Achilles.  Ten  years  was  the  fixed 
epical  duration  of  the  siege  of  Troy,  just  as  five  years  was  the 
duration  of  the  siege  of  Camicus  by  the  Cretan  armament 
which  came  to  avenge  the  death  of  Minos :  ten  years  of  prepa- 
ration, ten  years  of  siege,  and  ten  years  of  wandering  for  Odys- 
seus were  periods  suited  to  the  rough  chronological  dashes  of 
the  ancient  epic,  and  suggesting  no  doubts  nor  difficulties  with 
the  original  hearers.  But  it  was  otherwise  when  the  same 
events  came  to  be  contemplated  by  the  historicizing  Greeks, 
who  could  not  be  satisfied  without  either  finding  or  inventing 
satisfactory  bonds  of  coherence  between  the  separate  events. 
Thucydides  tells  us  that  the  Greeks  were  less  numerous  than 
the  poets  have  represented,  and  that  being,  moreover,  very 
poor,  they  were  unable  to  procure  adequate  and  constant  pro- 
visions :  hence  they  were  compelled  to  disperse  their  army,  and 
to  employ  a  part  of  it  in  cultivating  the  Chersonese — a  part  in 
marauding  expeditions  over  the  neighborhood.  Could  the 
whole  army  have  been  employed  against  Troy  at  once  (he 
says),  the  siege  would  have  been  much  more  speedily  and 
easily  concluded.  If  the  great  historian  could  permit  himself 
thus  to  amend  the  legend  in  so  many  points,  we  might  have 
imagined  that  a  simpler  course  would  have  been  to  include  the 
duration  of  the  siege  among  the  list  of  poetical  exaggerations, 


FALL   OF  TROY  79 

and  to  affirm  that  the  real  siege  had  lasted  only  one  year  instead 
of  ten.  But  it  seems  that  the  ten  years'  duration  was  so  capi- 
tal a  feature  in  the  ancient  tale  that  no  critic  ventured  to  med- 
dle with  it. 

A  period  of  comparative  intermission,  however,  was  now  at 
hand  for  the  Trojans.  The  gods  brought  about  the  memorable 
fit  of  anger  of  Achilles,  under  the  influence  of  which  he  refused 
to  put  on  his  armor,  and  kept  his  Myrmidons  in  camp.  Ac- 
cording to  the  Cypria,  this  was  the  behest  of  Zeus,  who  had 
compassion  on  the  Trojans :  according  to  the  Iliad,  Apollo  was 
the  originating  cause,  from  anxiety  to  avenge  the  injury  which 
his  priest  Chryses  had  endured  from  Agamemnon.  For  a  con- 
siderable time,  the  combats  of  the  Greeks  against  Troy  were 
conducted  without  their  best  warrior,  and  severe,  indeed,  was 
the  humiliation  which  they  underwent  in  consequence.  How 
the  remaining  Grecian  chiefs  vainly  strove  to  make  amends  for 
his  absence — how  Hector  and  the  Trojans  defeated  and  drove 
them  to  their  ships— how  the  actual  blaze  of  the  destroying 
flame,  applied  by  Hector  to  the  ship  of  Protesilaus,  roused  up 
the  anxious  and  sympathizing  Patroclus,  and  extorted  a  reluc- 
tant consent  from  Achilles  to  allow  his  friend  and  his  followers 
to  go  forth  and  avert  the  last  extremity  of  ruin — how  Achilles, 
when  Patroclus  had  been  killed  by  Hector,  forgetting  his  anger 
in  grief  for  the  death  of  his  friend,  reentered  the  fight,  drove 
the  Trojans  within  their  walls  with  immense  slaughter,  and 
satiated  his  revenge  both  upon  the  living  and  the  dead  Hector, 
— all  these  events  have  been  chronicled,  together  with  those 
divine  dispensations  on  which  most  of  them  are  made  to  de- 
pend, in  the  immortal  verse  of  the  Iliad. 

Homer  breaks  off  with  the  burial  of  Hector,  whose  body 
has  just  been  ransomed  by  the  disconsolate  Priam;  while  the 
lost  poem  of  Arctinus,  entitled  the  j£Lthiopisy  so  far  as  we  can 
judge  from  the  argument  still  remaining  of  it,  handled  only  the 
subsequent  events  of  the  siege.  The  poem  of  Quintus  Smyr- 
naeus,  composed  about  the  fourth  century  of  the  Christian  era, 
seems  in  its  first  books  to  coincide  with  ^Ethiopis,  in  the  sub- 
sequent books  partly  with  the  Ilias  Minor  of  Lesches. 

The  Trojans,  dismayed  by  the  death  of  Hector,  were  again 
animated  with  hope  by  the  appearance  of  the  warlike  and  beau- 


8o  FALL  OF  TROY 

tiful  queen  of  the  Amazons,  Penthesilia,  daughter  of  Ares, 
hitherto  invincible  in  the  field,  who  came  to  their  assistance 
from  Thrace  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  her  country-women.  She 
again  led  the  besieged  without  the  walls  to  encounter  the 
Greeks  in  the  open  field;  and  under  her  auspices  the  latter 
were  at  first  driven  back,  until  she,  too,  was  slain  by  the  in- 
vincible arm  of  Achilles.  The  victor,  on  taking  off  the  helmet 
of  his  fair  enemy  as  she  lay  on  the  ground,  was  profoundly 
affected  and  captivated  by  her  charms,  for  which  he  was  scorn- 
fully taunted  by  Thersites:  exasperated  by  this  rash  insult,  he 
killed  Thersites  on  the  spot  with  a  blow  of  his  fist.  A  violent 
dispute  among  the  Grecian  chiefs  was  the  result,  for  Diomedes, 
the  kinsman  of  Thersites,  warmly  resented  the  proceeding ;  and 
Achilles  was  obliged  to  go  to  Lesbos,  where  he  was  purified 
from  the  act  of  homicide  by  Odysseus. 

Next  arrived  Memnon,  son  of  Tithonus  and  Eos,  the  most 
stately  of  living  men,  with  a  powerful  band  of  black  Ethiopians, 
to  the  assistance  of  Troy.  Sallying  forth  against  the  Greeks, 
he  made  great  havoc  among  them :  the  brave  and  popular  An- 
tilochus  perished  by  his  hand,  a  victim  to  filial  devotion  in  de- 
fence of  Nestor.  Achilles  at  length  attacked  him,  and  for  a 
long  time  the  combat  was  doubtful  between  them :  the  prowess 
of  Achilles  and  the  supplication  of  Thetis  with  Zeus  finally 
prevailed ;  while  Eos  obtained  for  her  vanquished  son  the  con- 
soling gift  of  immortality.  His  tomb,  however,  was  shown 
near  the  Propontis,  within  a  few  miles  of  the  mouth  of  the  river 
./Esopus,  and  was  visited  annually  by  the  birds  called  Memno- 
nides,  who  swept  it  and  bedewed  it  with  water  from  the  stream. 
So  the  traveller  Pausanias  was  told,  even  in  the  second  century 
after  the  Christian  era,  by  the  Hellespontine  Greeks. 

But  the  fate  of  Achilles  himself  was  now  at  hand.  After 
routing  the  Trojans  and  chasing  them  into  the  town,  he  was 
slain  near  the  Scaean  gate  by  an  arrow  from  the  quiver  of  Paris, 
directed  under  the  unerring  auspices  of  Apollo.  The  greatest 
efforts  were  made  by  the  Trojans  to  possess  themselves  of  the 
body,  which  was,  however,  rescued  and  borne  off  to  the  Grecian 
camp  by  the  valor  of  Ajax  and  Odysseus.  Bitter  was  the  grief 
of  Thetis  for  the  loss  of  her  son ;  she  came  into  the  camp  with 
the  Muses  and  the  Nereids  to  mourn  over  him ;  and  when  a 


FALL   OF  TROY  81 

magnificent  funeral-pile  had  been  prepared  by  the  Greeks  to 
burn  him  with  every  mark  of  honor,  she  stole  away  the  body 
and  conveyed  it  to  a  renewed  and  immortal  life  in  the  island  of 
Leuce  in  the  Euxine  Sea.  According  to  some  accounts  he  was 
there  blest  with  the  nuptials  and  company  of  Helen. 

Thetis  celebrated  splendid  funeral  games  in  honor  of  her 
son,  and  offered  the  unrivalled  panoply  which  Hephaestus  had 
forged  and  wrought  for  him  as  a  prize  to  the  most  distinguished 
warrior  in  the  Grecian  army.  Odysseus  and  Ajax  became 
rivals  for  the  distinction,  when  Athene,  together  with  some 
Trojan  prisoners,  who  were  asked  from  which  of  the  two  their 
country  had  sustained  greatest  injury,  decided  in  favor  of  the 
former.  The  gallant  Ajax  lost  his  senses  with  grief  and  humil- 
iation: in  a  fit  of  frenzy  he  slew  some  sheep,  mistaking  them 
for  the  men  who  had  wronged  him,  and  then  fell  upon  his  own 
sword. 

Odysseus  now  learned  from  Helenus,  son  of  Priam,  whom  he 
had  captured  in  an  ambuscade,  that  Troy  could  not  be  taken 
unless  both  Philoctetes  and  Neoptolemus,  son  of  Achilles, 
could  be  prevailed  upon  to  join  the  besiegers.  The  former, 
having  been  stung  in  the  foot  by  a  serpent,  and  becoming  in- 
supportable to  the  Greeks  from  the  stench  of  his  wound,  had 
been  left  at  Lemnos  in  the  commencement  of  the  expedition, 
and  had  spent  ten  years  in  misery  on  that  desolate  island;  but 
he  still  possessed  the  peerless  bow  and  arrows  of  Heracles, 
which  were  said  to  be  essential  to  the  capture  of  Troy.  Dio- 
medes  fetched  Philoctetes  from  Lemnos  to  the  Grecian  camp, 
where  he  was  healed  by  the  skill  of  Machaon,  and  took  an  active 
part  against  the  Trojans — engaging  in  single  combat  with 
Paris,  and  killing  him  with  one  of  the  Heracleian  arrows.  The 
Trojans  were  allowed  to  carry  away  for  burial  the  body  of  this 
prince,  the  fatal  cause  of  all  their  sufferings;  but  not  until 
it  had  been  mangled  by  the  hand  of  Menelaus.  Odysseus  went 
to  the  island  of  Scyros  to  invite  Neoptolemus  to  the  army. 
The  untried  but  impetuous  youth,  gladly  obeying  the  call, 
received  from  Odysseus  his  father's  armor;  while,  on  the 
other  hand,  Eurypylus,  son  of  Telephus,  came  from  Mysia  as 
auxiliary  to  the  Trojans  and  rendered  to  them  valuable  service 
—turning  the  tide  of  fortune  for  a  time  against  the  Greeks,  and 
E.,  VOL.  i. — 6 


82  FALL   OF  TROY 

killing  some  of  their  bravest  chiefs,  among  whom  were  num- 
bered Peneleos,  and  the  unrivalled  leech  Machaon.  The  ex- 
ploits of  Neoptolemus  were  numerous,  worthy  of  the  glory  of 
his  race  and  the  renown  of  his  father.  He  encountered  and 
slew  Eurypylus,  together  with  numbers  of  the  Mysian  war- 
riors: he  routed  the  Trojans  and  drove  them  within  their  walls, 
from  whence  they  never  again  emerged  to  give  battle:  and  he 
was  not  less  distinguished  for  good  sense  and  persuasive  dic- 
tion than  for  forward  energy  in  the  field. 

Troy,  however,  was  still  impregnable  so  long  as  the  Palla 
dium,  a  statue  given  by  Zeus  himself  to  Dardanus,  remained  in 
the  citadel;  and  great  care  had  been  taken  by  the  Trojans  not 
only  to  conceal  this  valuable  present,  but  to  construct  other 
statues  so  like  it  as  to  mislead  any  intruding  robber.  Never- 
theless, the  enterprising  Odysseus,  having  disguised  his  person 
with  miserable  clothing  and  self-inflicted  injuries,  found  means 
to  penetrate  into  the  city  and  to  convey  the  Palladium  by  stealth 
away.  Helen  alone  recognized  him;  but  she  was  now  anxious 
to  return  to  Greece,  and  even  assisted  Odysseus  in  concerting 
means  for  the  capture  of  the  town. 

To  accomplish  this  object,  one  final  stratagem  was  resorted 
to.  By  the  hands  of  Epeius  of  Panopeus,  and  at  the  suggestion 
of  Athene,  a  capacious  hollow  wooden  horse  was  constructed, 
capable  of  containing  one  hundred  men.  In  the  inside  of  this 
horse  the  e*lite  of  the  Grecian  heroes,  Neoptolemus,  Odysseus, 
Menelaus,  and  others,  concealed  themselves  while  the  entire 
Grecian  army  sailed  away  to  Tenedos,  burning  their  tents  and 
pretending  to  have  abandoned  the  siege.  The  Trojans,  over- 
joyed to  find  themselves  free,  issued  from  the  city  and  con- 
templated with  astonishment  the  fabric  which  their  enemies 
had  left  behind.  They  long  doubted  what  should  be  done 
with  it;  and  the  anxious  heroes  from  within  heard  the  sur- 
rounding consultations,  as  well  as  the  voice  of  Helen  when  she 
pronounced  their  names  and  counterfeited  the  accents  of  their 
wives.  Many  of  the  Trojans  were  anxious  to  dedicate  it  to 
the  gods  in  the  city  as  a  token  of  gratitude  for  their  deliver- 
ance; but  the  more  cautious  spirits  inculcated  distrust  of  an 
enemy's  legacy.  Laocoon,  the  priest  of  Poseidon,  manifested 
his  aversion  by  striking  the  side  of  the  horse  with  his  spear. 


FALL   OF  TROY  83 

The  sound  revealed  that  the  horse  was  hollow,  but  the  Trojans 
heeded  not  this  warning  of  possible  fraud.  The  unfortunate 
Laocoon,  a  victim  to  his  own  sagacity  and  patriotism,  miserably 
perished  before  ;he  eyes  of  his  countrymen,  together  with  one 
of  his  sons:  two  serpents  being  sent  expressly  by  the  gods  out 
of  the  sea  to  destroy  him.  By  this  terrific  spectacle,  together 
with  the  perfidious  counsels  of  Simon — a  traitor  whom  the 
Greeks  had  left  behind  for  the  special  purpose  of  giving  false 
information — the  Trojans  were  induced  to  make  a  breach  in 
their  own  walls,  and  to  drag  the  fatal  fabric  with  triumph  and 
exultation  into  their  city. 

The  destruction  of  Troy,  according  to  the  decree  of  the  gods, 
was  now  irrevocably  sealed.  While  the  Trojans  indulged  in 
a  night  of  riotous  festivity,  Simon  kindled  the  fire-signal  to  the 
Greeks  at  Tenedos,  loosening  the  bolts  of  the  wooden  horse, 
from  out  of  which  the  enclosed  heroes  descended.  The  city, 
assailed  both  from  within  and  from  without,  was  thoroughly 
sacked  and  destroyed,  with  the  slaughter  or  captivity  of  the 
larger  portion  of  its  heroes  as  well  as  its  people.  The  vener- 
able Priam  perished  by  the  hand  of  Neoptolemus,  having  in 
vain  sought  shelter  at  the  domestic  altar  of  Zeus  Herceius.  But 
his  son  Deiphobus,  who  since  the  death  of  Paris  had  become 
the  husband  of  Helen,  defended  his  house  desperately  against 
Odysseus  and  Menelaus,  and  sold  his  life  dearly.  After  he  was 
slain,  his  body  was  fearfully  mutilated  by  the  latter. 

Thus  was  Troy  utterly  destroyed — the  city,  the  altars  and 
temples,  and  the  population.  ^Eneas  and  Antenor  were  per- 
mitted to  escape,  with  their  families,  having  been  always  more 
favorably  regarded  by  the  Greeks  than  the  remaining  Trojans. 
According  to  one  version  of  the  story  they  had  betrayed  the 
city  to  the  Greeks:  a  panther's  skin  had  been  hung  over  the 
door  of  Antenor's  house  as  a  signal  for  the  victorious  besiegers 
to  spare  it  in  general  plunder.  In  the  distribution  of  the  prin- 
cipal captives,  Astyanax,  the  infant  son  of  Hector,  was  cast 
from  the  top  of  the  wall  and  killed  by  Odysseus  or  Neoptole- 
mus: Polyxena,  the  daughter  of  Priam,  was  immolated  on  the 
tomb  of  Achilles,  in  compliance  with  a  requisition  made  by  the 
shade  of  the  deceased  hero  to  his  countrymen;  while  her  sister 
Cassandra  was  presented  as  a  prize  to  Agamemnon.  She  had 


84  FALL   OF  TROY 

sought  sanctuary  at  the  altar  of  Athene,  where  Ajax,  the  son 
of  Oileus,  making  a  guilty  attempt  to  seize  her,  had  drawn  both 
upon  himself  and  upon  the  army  the  serious  wrath  of  the  god- 
dess, insomuch  that  the  Greeks  could  hardly  be  restrained  from 
stoning  him  to  death.  Andromache  and  Helenus  were  both 
given  to  Neoptolemus,  who,  according  to  the  Ilias  Minor,  car- 
ried away  also  ,#£neas  as  his  captive. 

Helen  gladly  resumed  her  union  with  Menelaus;  she  ac- 
companied him  back  to  Sparta,  and  lived  with  him  there  many 
years  in  comfort  and  dignity,  passing  afterward  to  a  happy  im- 
mortality in  the  Elysian  fields.  She  was  worshipped  as  a  god- 
dess, with  her  brothers,  the  Dioscuri,  and  her  husband,  having 
her  temple,  statue,  and  altar  at  Therapnae  and  elsewhere.  Va- 
rious examples  of  her  miraculous  intervention  were  cited  among 
the  Greeks.  The  lyric  poet  Stesichorus  had  ventured  to  de- 
nounce her,  conjointly  with  her  sister  Clytemnestra,  in  a  tone 
of  rude  and  plain-spoken  severity,  resembling  that  of  Euripides 
and  Lycophron  afterward,  but  strikingly  opposite  to  the  deli- 
cacy and  respect  with  which  she  is  always  handled  by  Homer, 
who  never  admits  reproaches  against  her  except  from  her  own 
lips.  He  was  smitten  with  blindness,  and  made  sensible  of  his 
impiety;  but,  having  repented  and  composed  a  special  poem 
formally  retracting  the  calumny,  was  permitted  to  recover  his 
sight.  In  his  poem  of  recantation  (the  famous  Palinode  now 
unfortunately  lost)  he  pointedly  contradicted  the  Homeric  nar- 
rative, affirming  that  Helen  had  never  been  at  Troy  at  all,  and 
that  the  Trojans  had  carried  thither  nothing  but  her  image  or 
eidolon.  It  is,  probably,  to  the  excited  religious  feelings  of 
Stesichorus  that  we  owe  the  first  idea  of  this  glaring  deviation 
from  the  old  legend,  which  could  never  have  been  recom- 
mended by  any  considerations  of  poetical  interest. 

Other  versions  were  afterward  started,  forming  a  sort  of 
compromise  between  Homer  and  Stesichorus,  admitting  that 
Helen  had  never  really  been  at  Troy,  without  altogether  deny- 
ing her  elopement.  Such  is  the  story  of  her  having  been  de- 
tained in  Egypt  during  the  whole  term  of  the  siege.  Paris,  on 
his  departure  from  Sparta,  had  been  driven  thither  by  storms, 
and  the  Egyptian  king  Proteus,  hearing  of  the  grievous  wrong 
which  he  had  committed  toward  Menelaus,  had  sent  him  away 


FALL  OF  TROY  85 

from  the  country  with  severe  menaces,  detaining  Helen  until 
her  lawful  husband  should  come  to  seek  her.  When  the 
Greeks  reclaimed  Helen  from  Troy,  the  Trojans  assured  them 
solemnly  that  she  neither  was  nor  ever  had  been  in  the  town; 
but  the  Greeks,  Ueatinr;  this  allegation  as  fraudulent,  prose- 
cuted the  siege  until  their  ultimate  success  confirmed  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  statement.  Menelaus  did  not  recover  Helen 
until,  on  his  return  from  Troy,  he  visited  Egypt.  Such  was 
the  story  told  by  the  Egyptian  priests  to  Herodotus,  and  it  ap- 
peared satisfactory  to  his  historicizing  mind.  "For  if  Helen 
had  really  been  at  Troy,"  he  argues,  "she  would  certainly  have 
been  given  up,  even  had  she  been  mistress  of  Priam  himself  in- 
stead of  Paris :  the  Trojan  king,  with  all  his  family  and  all  his 
subjects,  would  never  knowingly  have  incurred  utter  and  irre- 
trievable destruction  for  the  purpose  of  retaining  her:  their 
misfortune  was  that,  while  they  did  not  possess  and  therefore 
could  not  restore  her,  they  yet  found  it  impossible  to  convince 
the  Greeks  that  such  was  the  fact."  Assuming  the  historical 
character  of  the  war  of  Troy,  the  remark  of  Herodotus  admits 
of  no  reply;  nor  can  we  greatly  wonder  that  he  acquiesced  in 
the  tale  of  Helen's  Egyptian  detention,  as  a  substitute  for  the 
"incredible  insanity/'  which  the  genuine  legend  imputes  to 
Priam  and  the  Trojans.  Pausanias,  upon  the  same  ground  and 
by  the  same  mode  of  reasoning,  pronounced  that  the  Trojan 
horse  must  have  been,  in  point  of  fact,  a  battering-engine,  be- 
cause to  admit  the  literal  narrative  would  be  to  impute  utter 
childishness  to  the  defenders  of  the  city.  And  Mr.  Payne 
Knight  rejects  Helen  altogether  as  the  real  cause  of  the  Trojan 
war,  though  she  may  have  been  the  pretext  of  it;  for  he  thinks 
that  neither  the  Greeks  nor  the  Trojans  could  have  been  so 
mad  and  silly  as  to  endure  calamities  of  such  magnitude  "for 
one  little  woman."  Mr.  Knight  suggests  various  political 
causes  as  substitutes;  these  might  deserve  consideration,  either 
if  any  evidence  could  be  produced  to  countenance  them,  or  if 
the  subject  on  which  they  are  brought  to  bear  could  be  shown 
to  belong  to  the  domain  of  history. 

The  return  of  the  Grecian  chiefs  from  Troy  furnished  mat- 
ter to  the  ancient  epic  hardly  less  copious  than  the  siege  itself, 
and  the  more  susceptible  of  indefinite  diversity,  inasmuch  as 


86  FALL  OF  TROY 

those  who  had  before  acted  in  concert  were  now  dispersed  and 
isolated.  Moreover,  the  stormy  voyages  and  compulsory 
wanderings  of  the  heroes  exactly  fell  in  with  the  common  aspi- 
rations after  an  heroic  founder,  and  enabled  even  the  most  re- 
mote Hellenic  settlers  to  connect  the  origin  of  their  town  with 
this  prominent  event  of  their  ante-historical  and  semi-divine 
world.  And  an  absence  of  ten  years  afforded  room  for  the 
supposition  of  many  domestic  changes  in  their  native  abode, 
and  many  family  misfortunes  and  misdeeds  during  the  interval. 
One  of  these  historic  "Returns,"  that  of  Odysseus,  has  been 
immortalized  by  the  verse  of  Homer.  The  hero,  after  a  series 
of  long-protracted  suffering  and  expatriation  inflicted  on  him  by 
the  anger  of  Poseidon,  at  last  reaches  his  native  island,  but  finds 
his  wife  beset,  his  youthful  son  insulted,  and  his  substance 
plundered  by  a  troop  of  insolent  suitors;  he  is  forced  to  appear 
as  a  wretched  beggar,  and  to  endure  in  his  own  person  their 
scornful  treatment;  but  finally,  by  the  interference  of  Athene 
coming  in  aid  of  his  own  courage  and  stratagem,  he  is  enabled 
to  overwhelm  his  enemies,  to  resume  his  family  position,  and 
to  recover  his  property.  The  return  of  several  other  Grecian 
chiefs  was  the  subject  of  an  epic  poem  by  Hagias  which  is  now 
lost,  but  of  which  a  brief  abstract  or  argument  still  remains: 
there  were  in  antiquity  various  other  poems  of  similar  title  and 
analogous  matter. 

As  usual  with  the  ancient  epic,  the  multiplied  sufferings  of 
this  back  voyage  are  traced  to  divine  wrath,  justly  provoked  by 
the  sins  of  the  Greeks,  who,  in  the  fierce  exultation  of  a  victory 
purchased  by  so  many  hardships,  had  neither  respected  nor 
even  spared  the  altars  of  the  gods  in  Troy.  Athene,  who  had 
been  their  most  zealous  ally  during  the  siege,  was  so  incensed 
by  their  final  recklessness,  more  especially  by  the  outrage  of 
Ajax,  son  of  Oileus,  that  she  actively  harassed  and  embittered 
their  return,  in  spite  of  every  effort  to  appease  her.  The  chiefs 
began  to  quarrel  among  themselves;  their  formal  assembly  be- 
came a  scene  of  drunkenness ;  even  Agamemnon  and  Menelaus 
lost  their  fraternal  harmony,  and  each  man  acted  on  his  own 
separate  resolution.  Nevertheless,  according  to  the  Odyssey, 
Nestor,  Diomedes,  Neoptolemus,  Idomeneus,  and  Philoctetes 
reached  home  speedily  and  safely;  Agamemnon  also  arrived  in 


FALL   OF  TROY  87 

Peloponnesus,  to  perish  by  the  hand  of  a  treacherous  wife;  but 
Menelaus  was  condemned  to  long  wanderings  and  to  the  sever- 
est privations  in  Egypt,  Cyprus,  and  elsewhere  before  he  could 
set  foot  in  his  native  land.  The  Locrian  Ajax  perished  on  the 
Gyraean  rock.  Though  exposed  to  a  terrible  storm,  he  had 
already  reached  this  place  of  safety,  when  he  indulged  in  the 
rash  boast  of  having  escaped  in  defiance  of  the  gods.  No 
sooner  did  Poseidon  hear  this  language  than  he  struck  with  his 
trident  the  rock  which  Ajax  was  grasping  and  precipitated  both 
into  the  sea.  Calchas,  the  soothsayer,  together  with  Leonteus 
and  Polypcetes,  proceeded  by  land  from  Troy  to  Colophon. 

In  respect,  however,  to  these  and  other  Grecian  heroes,  tales 
were  told  different  from  those  in  the  Odyssey,  assigning  to  them 
a  long  expatriation  and  a  distant  home.  Nestor  went  to  Italy, 
where  he  founded  Metapontum,  Pisa,  and  Heracleia:  Phil- 
octetes  also  went  to  Italy,  founded  Petilia  and  Crimisa,  and 
sent  settlers  to  Egesta  in  Sicily.  Neoptolemus,  under  the  ad- 
vice of  Thetis,  marched  by  land  across  Thrace,  met  with  Odys- 
seus, who  had  come  by  sea,  at  Maroneia,  and  then  pursued  his 
journey  to  Epirus,  where  he  became  king  of  the  Molossians. 
Idomeneus  came  to  Italy,  and  founded  Uria  in  the  Salentine 
peninsula.  Diomedes,  after  wandering  far  and  wide,  went 
along  the  Italian  coast  into  the  innermost  Adriatic  gulf,  and 
finally  settled  in  Daunia,  founding  the  cities  of  Argyrippa, 
Beneventum,  Atria,  and  Diomedeia :  by  the  favor  of  Athene  he 
became  immortal,  and  was  worshipped  as  a  god  in  many  differ- 
ent places.  The  Locrian  followers  of  Ajax  founded  the  Epi- 
zephyrian  Locri  on  the  southernmost  corner  of  Italy,  besides 
another  settlement  in  Libya. 

The  previously  exiled  Teucros,  besides  founding  the  city 
of  Salamis  in  Cyprus,  is  said  to  have  established  some  set- 
tlements in  the  Iberian  peninsula.  Menestheus,  the  Athenian, 
did  the  like,  and  also  founded  both  Elaea  in  Mysia  and  Scylle- 
tium  in  Italy.  The  Arcadian  chief  Agapenor  founded  Paphos 
in  Cyprus.  Epius,  of  Panopeus  in  Phocis,  the  constructor  of 
the  Trojan  horse  with  the  aid  of  the  goddess  Athene,  settled  at 
Lagaria,  near  Sybaris,  on  the  coast  of  Italy;  and  the  very  tools 
which  he  had  employed  in  that  remarkable  fabric  were  shown 
down  to  a  late  date  in  the  temple  of  Athene  at  Metapontum. 


88  FALL   OF  TROY 

Temples,  altars,  and  towns  were  also  pointed  out  in  Asia  Minor, 
in  Samos,  and  in  Crete,  the  foundation  of  Agamemnon  or  of 
his  followers.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Grecian  town  of  Scione, 
in  the  Thracian  peninsula  called  Pallene  or  Pellene,  accounted 
themselves  the  offspring  of  the  Pellenians  from  Achaea  in  Pelo- 
ponnesus, who  had  served  under  Agamemnon  before  Troy,  and 
who  on  their  return  from  the  siege  had  been  driven  on  the  spot 
by  a  storm  and  there  settled.  The  Pamphylians,  on  the  south- 
ern coast  of  Asia  Minor,  deduced  their  origin  from  the  wan- 
derings of  Amphilochus  and  Calchas  after  the  siege  of  Troy: 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Amphilochian  Argos  on  the  Gulf  of  Am- 
bracia  revered  the  same  Amphilochus  as  their  founder.  The 
Orchomenians  under  lamenus,  on  quitting  the  conquered  city, 
wandered  or  were  driven  to  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  Euxine 
Sea;  and  the  barbarous  Achaeans  under  Mount  Caucasus  were 
supposed  to  have  derived  their  first  establishment  from  this 
source.  Meriones,  with  his  Cretan  followers,  settled  at  Engyion 
in  Sicily,  along  with  the  preceding  Cretans  who  had  remained 
there  after  the  invasion  of  Minos.  The  Elymians  in  Sicily  also 
were  composed  of  Trojans  and  Greeks  separately  driven  to  the 
spot,  who,  forgetting  their  previous  differences,  united  in  the 
joint  settlements  of  Eryx  and  Egesta.  We  hear  of  Podalerius 
both  in  Italy  and  on  the  coast  of  Caria;  of  Acamas,  son  of  The- 
seus, at  Amphipolus  in  Thrace,  at  Soli  in  Cyprus,  and  at  Syn- 
nada  in  Phrygia;  of  Guneus,  Prothous,  and  Eurypylus,  in  Crete 
as  well  as  in  Libya.  The  obscure  poem  of  Lycophron  enumer- 
ates many  of  these  dispersed  and  expatriated  heroes,  whose  con- 
quest of  Troy  was  indeed  a  "Cadmean"  victory  (according  to 
the  proverbial  phrase  of  the  Greeks),  wherein  the  sufferings  of 
the  victor  were  little  inferior  to  those  of  the  vanquished.  It  was 
particularly  among  the  Italian  Greeks,  where  they  were  wor- 
shipped with  very  special  solemnity,  that  their  presence  as  wan- 
derers from  Troy  was  reported  and  believed. 

I  pass  over  the  numerous  other  tales  which  circulated  among 
the  ancients,  illustrating  the  ubiquity  of  the  Grecian  and  Tro- 
jan heroes  as  well  as  that  of  the  Argonauts — one  of  the  most 
striking  features  in  the  Hellenic  legendary  world.  Among 
them  all,  the  most  interesting,  individually,  is  Odysseus,  whose 
romantic  adventures  in  fabulous  places  and  among  fabulous 


FALL  OF  TROY  89 

persons  have  been  made  familiarly  known  by  Homer.  The 
goddesses  Calypso  and  Circe;  the  semi-divine  mariners  of 
Phaeacia,  whose  ships  are  endowed  with  consciousness  and  obey 
without  a  steersman;  the  one-eyed  Cyclopes,  the  gigantic 
Laestrygones,  and  the  wind-ruler  ./Eolus ;  the  Sirens,  who  en- 
snare by  their  song,  as  the  Lotophagi  fascinate  by  their  food, — 
all  these  pictures  formed  integral  and  interesting  portions  of  the 
old  epic.  Homer  leaves  Odysseus  reestablished  in  his  house 
and  family.  But  so  marked  a  personage  could  never  be  per- 
mitted to  remain  in  the  tameness  of  domestic  life ;  the  epic 
poem  called  the  Telegonia  ascribed  to  him  a  subsequent  series 
of  adventures.  Telegonus,  his  son  by  Circe,  coming  to  Ithaca 
in  search  of  his  father,  ravaged  the  island  and  killed  Odysseus 
without  knowing  who  he  was.  Bitter  repentance  overtook  the 
son  for  his  undesigned  parricide :  at  his  prayer  and  by  the  in- 
tervention of  his  mother  Circe,  both  Penelope  and  Telemachus 
were  made  immortal :  Telegonus  married  Penelope,  and  Telem- 
achus married  Circe. 

We  see  by  this  poem  that  Odysseus  was  represented  as  the 
mythical  ancestor  of  the  Thesprotian  kings,  just  as  Neoptolemus 
was  of  the  Molossian. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned  that  Antenor  and  ^Eneas 
stand  distinguished  from  the  other  Trojans  by  a  dissatisfaction 
with  Priam  and  a  sympathy  with  the  Greeks,  which  was  by 
Sophocles  and  others  construed  as  treacherous  collusion, — a 
suspicion  indirectly  glanced  at,  though  emphatically  repelled, 
by  the  yEneas  of  Vergil.  In  the  old  epic  of  Arctinus,  next  in 
age  to  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey,  ^Eneas  abandons  Troy  and  retires 
to  Mount  Ida,  in  terror  at  the  miraculous  death  of  Laocoon, 
before  the  entry  of  the  Greeks  into  the  town  and  the  last  night - 
battle :  yet  Lesches,  in  another  of  the  ancient  epic  poems,  rep- 
resented him  as  having  been  carried  away  captive  by  Neoptole- 
mus. In  a  remarkable  passage  of  the  Iliad,  Poseidon  describes 
the  family  of  Priam  as  having  incurred  the  hatred  of  Zeus,  and 
predicts  that  ./Eneas  and  his  descendants  shall  reign  over  the 
Trojans :  the  race  of  Dardanus,  beloved  by  Zeus  more  than  all 
his  other  sons,  would  thus  be  preserved,  since  ./Eneas  belonged 
to  it.  Accordingly,  when  ^Eneas  is  in  imminent  peril  from  the 
hands  of  Achilles,  Poseidon  specially  interferes  to  rescue  him, 


90  FALL  OF  TROY 

and  even  the  implacable  miso-Trojan  goddess  Here  assents  to 
the  proceeding.  These  passages  have  been  construed  by  va- 
rious able  critics  to  refer  to  a  family  of  philo-Hellenic  or  semi- 
Hellenic  ^Eneadae,  known  even  in  the  time  of  the  early  singers 
of  the  Iliad  as  masters  of  some  territory  in  or  near  the  Troad, 
and  professing  to  be  descended  from,  as  well  as  worshipping, 
^Cneas.  In  the  town  of  Scepsis,  situated  in  the  mountainous 
range  of  Ida,  about  thirty  miles  eastward  of  Ilium,  there  existed 
two  noble  and  priestly  families  who  professed  to  be  descended, 
the  one  from  Hector,  the  other  from  ^neas.  The  Scepsian 
critic  Demetrius  (in  whose  time  both  these  families  were  still 
to  be  found)  informs  us  that  Scamandrius,  son  of  Hector,  and 
Ascanius,  son  of  ^Eneas,  were  the  archegets  or  heroic  founders 
of  his  native  city,  which  had  been  originally  situated  on  one  of 
the  highest  ranges  of  Ida,  and  was  subsequently  transferred  by 
them  to  the  less  lofty  spot  on  which  it  stood  in  his  time.  In 
Arisbe  and  Gentinus  there  seem  to  have  been  families  profess- 
ing the  same  descent,  since  the  same  archegets  were  acknowl- 
edged. In  Ophrynium,  Hector  had  his  consecrated  edifice, 
while  in  Ilium  both  he  and  ./Eneas  were  worshipped  as  gods : 
and  it  was  the  remarkable  statement  of  the  Lesbian  Menecrates 
that  ^Eneas,  "having  been  wronged  by  Paris  and  stripped  of 
the  sacred  privileges  which  belonged  to  him,  avenged  himself 
by  betraying  the  city,  and  then  became  one  of  the  Greeks." 

One  tale  thus  among  many  respecting  ^Eneas,  and  that,  too, 
the  most  ancient  of  all,  preserved  among  natives  of  the  Troad, 
who  worshipped  him  as  their  heroic  ancestor,  was  that  after 
the  capture  of  Troy  he  continued  in  the  country  as  king  of  the 
remaining  Trojans,  on  friendly  terms  with  the  Greeks.  But 
there  were  other  tales  respecting  him,  alike  numerous  and  irre- 
concilable :  the  hand  of  destiny  marked  him  as  a  wanderer  (fato 
profugus)  and  his  ubiquity  is  not  exceeded  even  by  that  of 
Odysseus.  We  hear  of  him  at  JEnus  in  Thrace,  in  Pallene,  at 
-<Eneia  in  the  Thermaic  Gulf,  in  Delos,  at  Orchomenus  and 
Mantineia  in  Arcadia,  in  the  islands  of  Cythera  and  Zacyn- 
thus,  in  Leucas  and  Ambracia,  at  Buthrotum  in  Epirus,  on  the 
Salentine  peninsula  and  various  other  places  in  the  southern 
region  of  Italy;  at  Drepana  and  Segesta  in  Sicily,  at  Carthage, 
at  Cape  Palinurus,  Cumae,  Misenum,  Caieta,  and  finally  in  La- 


FALL  OF  TROY  91 

tium,  where  he  lays  the  first  humble  foundation  of  the  mighty 
Rome  and  her  empire.  And  the  reason  why  his  wanderings 
were  not  continued  still  further  was,  that  the  oracles  and  the 
pronounced  will  of  the  gods  directed  him  to  settle  in  Latium. 
In  each  of  these  numerous  places  his  visit  was  commemorated 
and  certified  by  local  monuments  or  special  legends,  particularly 
by  temples  and  permanent  ceremonies  in  honor  of  his  mother 
Aphrodite,  whose  worship  accompanied  him  everywhere :  there 
were  also  many  temples  and  many  different  tombs  of  ^Eneas 
himself.  The  vast  ascendancy  acquired  by  Rome,  the  ardor 
with  which  all  the  literary  Romans  espoused  the  idea  of  a  Tro- 
jan origin,  and  the  fact  that  the  Julian  family  recognized  ^Eneas 
as  their  gentile  primary  ancestor, — all  contributed  to  give  to 
the  Roman  version  of  this  legend  the  preponderance  over  every 
other.  The  various  other  places  in  which  monuments  of 
JEneas  were  found  came  thus  to  be  represented  as  places  where 
he  had  halted  for  a  time  on  his  way  from  Troy  to  Latium. 
But  though  the  legendary  pretensions  of  these  places  were 
thus  eclipsed  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  constituted  the  literary 
public,  the  local  belief  was  not  extinguished ;  they  claimed  the 
hero  as  their  permanent  property,  and  his  tomb  was  to  them  a 
proof  that  he  had  lived  and  died  among  them. 

Antenor,  who  shares  with  ^Eneas  the  favorable  sympathy 
of  the  Greeks,  is  said  by  Pindar  to  have  gone  from  Troy  along 
with  Menelaus  and  Helen  into  the  region  of  Cyrene  in  Libya. 
But  according  to  the  more  current  narrative,  he  placed  himself 
at  the  head  of  a  body  of  Eneti  or  Veneti  from  Paphlagonia,  who 
had  come  as  allies  of  Troy,  and  went  by  sea  into  the  inner  part 
of  the  Adriatic  Gulf,  where  he  conquered  the  neighboring  bar- 
barians and  founded  the  town  of  Patavium  (the  modern  Padua) ; 
the  Veneti  in  this  region  were  said  to  owe  their  origin  to  his 
immigration.  We  learn  further  from  Strabo  that  Opsicellas, 
one  of  the  companions  of  Antenor,  had  continued  his  wander- 
ings even  into  Iberia,  and  that  he  had  there  established  a  set- 
tlement bearing  his  name.  Thus  endeth  the  Trojan  war,  to- 
gether with  its  sequel,  the  dispersion  of  the  heroes,  victors  as 
well  as  vanquished. 


ACCESSION  OF  SOLOMON 
BUILDING  OF  THE  TEMPLE  AT  JERUSALEM 

B.C.  1017 

HENRY  HART  MILMAN 

After  many  weary  years  of  travail  and  fighting  in  the  wilderness  and 
the  land  of  Canaan,  the  Jews  had  at  last  founded  their  kingdom,  with  Jeru- 
salem as  the  capital.  Saul  was  proclaimed  the  first  king;  afterward 
followed  David,  the  "  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah."  During  the  many 
wars  in  which  the  Israelites  had  been  engaged,  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant 
was  the  one  thing  in  which  their  faith  was  bound.  No  undertaking 
could  fail  while  they  retained  possession  of  it. 

In  their  wanderings  the  tabernacle  enclosing  the  precious  ark  was 
first  erected  before  the  dwellings  for  the  people.  It  had  been  captured 
by  the  Philistines,  then  restored  to  the  Hebrews,  and  became  of  greater 
veneration  than  before.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  among  other  things, 
it  contained  the  rod  of  Aaron  which  budded  and  was  the  cause  of  his 
selection  as  high-priest.  It  also  contained  the  tables  of  stone  which 
bore  the  Ten  Commandments. 

David  desired  to  build  a  fitting  shrine,  a  temple,  in  which  to  place  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant ;  it  should  be  a  place  wherein  the  people  could 
worship ;  a  centre  of  religion  in  which  the  ark  should  have  paid  it  the 
distinction  due  it  as  the  seat  of  tremendous  majesty. 

But  David  had  been  a  man  of  war;  this  temple  was  a  place  of  peace. 
Blood  must  not  stain  its  walls;  no  shedder  of  gore  could  be  its  architect. 
Yet  David  collected  stone,  timber,  and  precious  metals  for  its  erection; 
and,  not  being  allowed  to  erect  the  temple  himself,  was  permitted  to 
depute  that  office  to  his  son  and  successor,  "  Solomon  the  Wise." 

At  this  time  all  the  enemies  of  Israel  had  been  conquered,  the  coun 
try  was  at  peace ;  the  domain  of  the  Hebrews  was  greater  than  at  any 
other  time,  before  or  afterward.  It  was  the  fitting  time  for  the  erection 
of  a  great  shrine  to  enclose  the  sacred  ark.  Nobly  was  this  done,  and 
no  human  work  of  ancient  or  modern  times  has  so  impressed  mankind 
as  the  building  of  Solomon's  Temple. 

gOLOMON  succeeded  to  the  Hebrew  kingdom  at  the  age  of 
twenty.    He  was  environed  by  designing,  bold,  and  dan- 
gerous enemies.    Tne  pretensions  of  Adonijah  still  commanded 
a  powerful  party:  Abiathar  swayed  the  priesthood;  Joab  the 

02 


SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE  93 

army.  The  singular  connection  in  public  opinion  between  the 
title  to  the  crown  and  the  possession  of  the  deceased  monarch's 
harem  is  well  understood.1  Adonijah,  in  making  request  for 
Abishag,  a  youthful  concubine  taken  by  David  in  his  old  age, 
was  considered  as  insidiously  renewing  his  claims  to  the  sover- 
eignty. Solomon  saw  at  once  the  wisdom  of  his  father's  dying 
admonition :  he  seized  the  opportunity  of  crushing  all  future 
opposition  and  all  danger  of  a  civil  war.  He  caused  Adonijah 
to  be  put  to  death;  suspended  Abiathar  from  his  office,  and 
banished  him  from  Jerusalem:  and  though  Joab  fled  to  the 
altar,  he  commanded  him  to  be  slain  for  the  two  murders  of 
which  he  had  been  guilty,  those  of  Abner  and  Amasa.  Shimei, 
another  dangerous  man,  was  commanded  to  reside  in  Jerusalem, 
on  pain  of  death  if  he  should  quit  the  city.  Three  years  after- 
ward he  was  detected  in  a  suspicious  journey  to  Gath,  on  the 
Philistine  border ;  and  having  violated  the  compact,  he  suffered 
the  penalty. 

Thus  secured  by  the  policy  of  his  father  from  internal  ene- 
mies, by  the  terror  of  his  victories  from  foreign  invasion,  Solo- 
mon commenced  his  peaceful  reign,  during  which  Judah  and 
Israel  dwelt  safely,  Every  man  under  his  vine  and  under  his  fig- 
tree,  from  Dan  to  Beersheba.  This  peace  was  broken  only  by  a 
revolt  of  the  Edomites.  Hadad,  of  the  royal  race,  after  the 
exterminating  war  waged  by  David  and  by  Joab,  had  fled  to 
Egypt,  where  he  married  the  sister  of  the  king's  wife.  No 
sooner  had  he  heard  of  the  death  of  David  and  of  Joab  than  he 
returned,  and  seems  to  have  kept  up  a  kind  of  predatory  war- 
fare during  the  reign  of  Solomon.  Another  adventurer,  Rezon, 
a  subject  of  Hadadezer,  king  of  Zobah,  seized  on  Damascus, 
and  maintained  a  great  part  of  Syria  in  hostility  to  Solomon. 

Solomon's  conquest  of  Hamath  Zobah  in  a  later  part  of  his 
reign,  after  which  he  built  Tadmor  in  the  wilderness  and  raised 
a  line  of  fortresses  along  his  frontier  to  the  Euphrates,  is  prob- 
ably connected  with  these  hostilities.'  The  justice  of  Solomon 
was  proverbial.  Among  his  first  acts  after  his  accession,  it  is 
related  that  when  he  had  offered  a  costly  sacrifice  at  Gibeon, 
the  place  where  the  Tabernacle  remained,  God  had  appeared 

1 1  Kings,  i.  *  I  Kings,  xi.,  23 ;  I  Chron.,  viii.,  3. 


94  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

to  him  in  a  dream,  and  offered  him  whatever  gift  he  chose :  the 
wise  king  requested  an  understanding  heart  to  judge  the  peo- 
ple. God  not  merely  assented  to  his  prayer,  but  added  the  gift 
of  honor  and  riches.  His  judicial  wisdom  was  displayed  in  the 
memorable  history  of  the  two  women  who  contested  the  right 
to  a  child.  Solomon,  in  the  wild  spirit  of  Oriental  justice, 
commanded  the  infant  to  be  divided  before  their  faces:  the 
heart  of  the  real  mother  was  struck  with  terror  and  abhor- 
rence, while  the  false  one  consented  to  the  horrible  partition, 
and  by  this  appeal  to  nature  the  cause  was  instantaneously 
decided. 

The  internal  government  of  his  extensive  dominions  next 
demanded  the  attention  of  Solomon.  Besides  the  local  and 
municipal  governors,  he  divided  the  kingdom  into  twelve  dis- 
tricts :  over  each  of  these  he  appointed  a  purveyor  for  the  col- 
lection of  the  royal  tribute,  which  was  received  in  kind ;  and 
thus  the  growing  capital  and  the  immense  establishments  of 
Solomon  were  abundantly  furnished  with  provisions.  Each 
purveyor  supplied  the  court  for  a  month.  The  daily  consump- 
tion of  his  household  was  three  hundred  bushels  of  finer  flour, 
six  hundred  of  a  coarser  sort ;  ten  fatted,  twenty  other  oxen ; 
one  hundred  sheep;  besides  poultry,  and  various  kinds  of 
venison.  Provender  was  furnished  for  forty  thousand  horses, 
and  a  great  number  of  dromedaries.  Yet  the  population  of  the 
country  did  not,  at  first  at  least,  feel  these  burdens :  Judah  and 
Israel  were  many,  as  the  sand  which  is  by  the  sea  in  multitude^ 
eating  and  drinking,  and  making  merry. 

The  foreign  treaties  of  Solomon  were  as  wisely  directed  to 
secure  the  profound  peace  of  his  dominions.  He  entered  into 
a  matrimonial  alliance  with  the  royal  family  of  Egypt,  whose 
daughter  he  received  with  great  magnificence ;  and  he  renewed 
the  important  alliance  with  the  king  of  Tyre.1  The  friendship 
of  this  monarch  was  of  the  highest  value  in  contributing  to  the 

1  After  inserting  the  correspondence  between  King  Solomon  and  King 
Hiram  of  Tyre,  according  to  I  Kings,  v.,  Josephus  asserts  that  copies  of 
these  letters  were  not  only  preserved  by  his  countrymen,  but  also  in  the 
archives  of  Tyre.  I  presume  that  Josephus  adverts  to  the  statement  of 
Tynan  historians,  not  to  an  actual  inspection  of  the  archives,  which  he 
seems  to  assert  as  existing  and  accessible. 


SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE  95 

great  royal  and  national  work,  the  building  of  the  Temple. 
The  cedar  timber  could  only  be  obtained  from  the  forests  of 
Lebanon:  the  Sidonian  artisans,  celebrated  in  the  Homeric 
poems,  were  the  most  skilful  workmen  in  every  kind  of  manu- 
facture, particularly  hi  the  precious  metals. 

Solomon  entered  into  a  regular  treaty,  by  which  he  bound 
himself  to  supply  the  Tyrians  with  large  quantities  of  corn ;  re- 
ceiving in  return  their  timber,  which  was  floated  down  to  Joppa, 
and  a  large  body  of  artificers.  The  timber  was  cut  by  his  own 
subjects,  of  whom  he  raised  a  body  of  thirty  thousand;  ten 
thousand  employed  at  a  time,  and  relieving  each  other  every 
month ;  so  that  to  one  month  of  labor  they  had  two  of  rest. 
He  raised  tsvo  other  corps,  one  of  seventy  thousand  porters  of 
burdens,  the  other  of  eighty  thousand  hewers  of  stone,  who 
were  employed  in  the  quarries  among  the  mountains.  All 
these  labors  were  thrown,  not  on  the  Israelites,  but  on  the 
strangers  who,  chiefly  of  Canaanitish  descent,  had  been  per- 
mitted to  inhabit  the  country. 

These  preparations,  in  addition  to  those  of  King  David, 
being  completed,  the  work  began.  The  eminence  of  Moriah, 
the  Mount  of  Vision,  i.e.,  the  height  seen  afar  from  the  adjacent 
country,  which  tradition  pointed  out  as  the  spot  where  Abra- 
ham had  offered  his  son  (where  recently  the  plague  had  been 
stayed,  by  the  altar  built  in  the  threshing-floor  of  Oman  or 
Araunah,  the  Jebusite),  rose  on  the  east  side  of  the  city.  Its 
rugged  top  was  levelled  with  immense  labor;  its  sides,  which 
to  the  east  and  south  were  precipitous,  were  faced  with  a  wall 
of  stone,  built  up  perpendicular  from  the  bottom  of  the  valley, 
so  as  to  appear  to  those  who  looked  down  of  most  terrific 
height ;  a  work  of  prodigious  skill  and  labor,  as  the  immense 
stones  were  strongly  mortised  together  and  wedged  into  the 
rock.  Around  the  whole  area  or  esplanade,  an  irregular  quad- 
rangle, was  a  solid  wall  of  considerable  height  and  strength : 
within  this  was  an  open  court,  into  which  the  Gentiles  were 
either  from  the  first,  or  subsequently,  admitted.  A  second 
wall  encompassed  another  quadrangle,  called  the  court  of  the 
Israelites.  Along  this  wall,  on  the  inside,  ran  a  portico  or 
cloister,  over  which  were  chambers  for  different  sacred  pur- 
poses. Within  this  again  another,  probably  a  lower,  wall 


96  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

separated  the  court  of  the  priests  from  that  of  the  Israelites. 
To  each  court  the  ascent  was  by  steps,  so  that  the  platform 
of  the  inner  court  was  on  a  higher  level  than  that  of  the 
outer. 

The  Temple  itself  was  rather  a  monument  of  the  wealth 
than  the  architectural  skill  and  science  of  the  people.  It  was  a 
wonder  of  the  world  from  the  splendor  of  its  materials,  more 
than  the  grace,  boldness,  or  majesty  of  its  height  and  dimen- 
sions. It  had  neither  the  colossal  magnitude  of  the  Egyptian, 
the  simple  dignity  and  perfect  proportional  harmony  of  the 
Grecian,  nor  perhaps  the  fantastic  grace  and  lightness  of  later 
Oriental  architecture.  Some  writers,  calling  to  their  assistance 
the  visionary  temple  of  Ezekiel,  have  erected  a  most  superb 
edifice ;  to  which  there  is  this  fatal  objection,  that  if  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  prophet  are  taken  as  they  stand  in  the  text,  the 
area  of  the  Temple  and  its  courts  would  not  only  have  covered 
the  whole  of  Mount  Moriah,  but  almost  all  Jerusalem.  In  fact 
our  accounts  of  the  Temple  of  Solomon  are  altogether  unsatis- 
factory. The  details,  as  they  now  stand  in  the  books  of  Kings 
and  Chronicles,  the  only  safe  authorities,  are  unscientific,  and, 
what  is  worse,  contradictory. 

Josephus  has  evidently  blended  together  the  three  temples, 
and  attributed  to  the  earlier  all  the  subsequent  additions  and 
alterations.  The  Temple,  on  the  whole,  was  an  enlargement 
of  the  tabernacle,  built  of  more  costly  and  durable  materials. 
Like  its  model,  it  retained  the  ground-plan  and  disposition  of 
the  Egyptian,  or  rather  of  almost  all  the  sacred  edifices  of  an- 
tiquity: even  its  measurements  are  singularly  in  unison  with 
some  of  the  most  ancient  temples  in  Upper  Egypt.  It  con- 
sisted of  a  propylaeon,  a  temple,  and  a  sanctuary ;  called  respec- 
tively the  Porch,  the  Holy  Place,  and  the  Holy  of  Holies  Yet 
in  some  respects,  if  the  measurements  are  correct,  the  Temple 
must  rather  have  resembled  the  form  of  a  simple  Gothic 
church. 

In  the  front  to  the  east  stood  the  porch,  a  tall  tower,  rising 
to  the  height  of  210  feet.  Either  within,  or,  like  the  Egyptian 
obelisks,  before  the  porch,  stood  two  pillars  of  brass;  by  one 
account  27,  by  another  above  60  feet  high,  the  latter  statement 
probably  including  their  capitals  and  bases.  These  were  called 


SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE  97 

Jachin  and  Boaz  (Durability  and  Strength).1  The  capitals  of 
these  were  of  the  richest  workmanship,  with  net-work,  chain- 
work,  and  pomegranates.  The  porch  was  the  same  width  with 
the  Temple,  35  feet;  its  depth  17^.  The  length  of  the  main 
building,  including  the  Holy  Place,  70  feet,  and  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  35,  was  in  the  whole  105  feet;  the  height  52^  feet.* 

Josephus  carries  the  whole  building  up  to  the  height  of  the 
porch ;  but  this  is  out  of  all  credible  proportion,  making  the 
height  twice  the  length  and  six  times  the  width.  Along  each 
side,  and  perhaps  at  the  back  of  the  main  building,  ran  an  aisle, 
divided  into  three  stories  of  small  chambers :  the  wall  of  the 
Temple  being  thicker  at  the  bottom,  left  a  rest  to  support  the 
beams  of  these  chambers,  which  were  not  let  into  the  wall. 
These  aisles,  the  chambers  of  which  were  appropriated  as 
vestiaries,  treasuries,  and  for  other  sacred  purposes,  seem  to 
have  reached  about  half  way  up  the  main  wall  of  what  we  may 
call  the  nave  and  choir :  the  windows  into  the  latter  were  prob- 
ably above  them ;  these  were  narrow,  but  widened  inward. 

If  the  dimensions  of  the  Temple  appear  by  no  means  im- 
posing, it  must  be  remembered  that  but  a  small  part  of  the  re- 
ligious ceremonies  took  place  within  the  walls.  The  Holy  of 
Holies  was  entered  only  once  a  year,  and  that  by  the  High- 
priest  alone.  It  was  the  secret  and  unapproachable  shrine  of 
the  Divinity.  The  Holy  Place,  the  body  of  the  Temple, 
admitted  only  the  officiating  priests.  The  courts,  called  in 
popular  language  the  Temple,  or  rather  the  inner  quadrangle, 

1  Ewald,  following,  he  says,  the  Septuagint,  makes  these  pillars 
not  standing  alone  like  obelisks  before  the  porch,  but  as  forming  the 
front  of  the  porch,  with  the  capitals  connected  together,  and  supporting 
a  kind  of  balcony,  with  ornamental  work  above  it.  The  pillars  measured 
12  cubits  (22  feet)  round. 

8  Mr.  Fergusson,  estimating  the  cubit  rather  lower  than  in  the  text, 
makes  the  porch  30  by  15;  the  pronaos,  or  Holy  Place,  60  by  30;  the? 
Holy  of  Holies,  30;  the  height  45  feet.  Mr.  Fergusson,  following  Jose- 
phus, supposes  that  the  whole  Temple  had  an  upper  story  of  wood,  a 
talar,  as  appears  in  other  Eastern  edifices.  I  doubt  the  authority  of 
Josephus  as  to  the  older  Temple,  though,  as  Mr.  Fergusson  observes, 
the  discrepancies  between  the  measurements  in  Kings  and  in  Chronicles 
may  be  partially  reconciled  on  this  supposition.  Mr.  Fergusson  makes 
the  height  of  the  eastern  tower  only  90  feet.  The  text  followed  2  Chroa., 
lit,  4,  reckoning  the  cubit  at  i  foot  9  inches. 
E.,  VOL.  I.— 7 


9$  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

were  in  fact  the  great  place  of  divine  worship.  Here,  under 
the  open  air,  were  celebrated  the  great  public  and  national 
rites,  the  processions,  the  offerings,  the  sacrifices;  here 
stood  the  great  tank  for  ablution,  and  the  high  altar  for  burnt- 
offerings. 

But  the  costliness  of  the  materials,  the  richness  and  variety 
of  the  details,  amply  compensated  for  the  moderate  dimensions 
of  the  building.  It  was  such  a  sacred  edifice  as  a  traveller 
might  have  expected  to  find  in  El  Dorado.  The  walls  were  of 
hewn  stone,  faced  within  with  cedar  which  was  richly  carved 
with  knosps  and  flowers ;  the  ceiling  was  of  fir-tree.  But  in 
every  part  gold  was  lavished  with  the  utmost  profusion ;  within 
and  without,  the  floor,  the  walls,  the  ceiling,  in  short,  the  whole 
house  is  described  as  overlaid  with  gold.  The  finest  and  purest 
— that  of  Parvaim,  by  some  supposed  to  be  Ceylon — was  re- 
served for  the  sanctuary.  Here  the  cherubim,  which  stood 
upon  the  covering  of  the  Ark,  with  their  wings  touching  each 
wall,  were  entirely  covered  with  gold 

The  sumptuous  veil,  of  the  richest  materials  and  brightest 
colors,  which  divided  the  Holy  of  Holies  from  the  Holy  Place 
was  suspended  on  chains  of  gold  Cherubim,  palm-trees,  and 
flowers,  the  favorite  ornaments,  everywhere  covered  with  gild 
nig,  were  wrought  in  almost  all  parts.  The  altar  within  the 
Temple  and  the  table  of  shewbread  were  likewise  covered  with 
the  same  precious  metal.  All  the  vessels,  the  ten  candlesticks, 
five  hundred  basins,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  sacrificial  and  other 
utensils,  were  of  solid  gold.  Yet  the  Hebrew  writers  seem  to 
dwell  with  the  greatest  astonishment  and  admiration  on  the 
works  which  were  founded  in  brass  by  Huram,  a  man  of  Jew- 
ish extraction,  who  had  learned  his  art  at  Tyre. 

Besides  the  lofty  pillars  above  mentioned,  there  was  a  great 
tank,  called  a  sea,  of  molten  brass,  supported  on  twelve  oxen, 
three  turned  each  way ;  this  was  seventeen  and  one-half  feet  in 
diameter.  There  was  also  a  great  altar,  and  ten  large  vessels 
for  the  purpose  of  ablution,  called  lavers,  standing  on  bases  or 
pedestals,  the  rims  of  which  were  richly  ornamented  with  a 
border,  on  which  were  wrought  figures  of  lions,  oxen,  and 
cherubim.  The  bases  below  were  formed  of  four  wheels,  like 
those  of  a  chariot.  All  the  works  in  brass  were  cast  in  a  place 


SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE  & 

near  the  Jordan,  where  the  soil  was  of  a  stiff  clay  suited  to  the 
purpose 

For  seven  years  and  a  half  the  fabric  arose  in  silence.  All 
the  timbers,  the  stones,  even  of  the  most  enormous  size,  meas- 
uring seventeen  and  eighteen  feet,  were  hewn  and  fitted,  so  as 
to  be  put  together  without  the  sound  of  any  tool  whatever ;  as 
it  has  been  expressed,  with  great  poetical  beauty : 

"  Like  some  tall  palm  the  noiseless  fabric  grew." 

At  the  end  of  this  period,  the  Temple  and  its  courts  being 
completed,  the  solemn  dedication  took  place,  with  the  greatest 
magnificence  which  the  king  and  the  nation  could  display.  All 
the  chieftains  of  the  different  tribes,  and  all  of  every  order  who 
could  be  brought  together,  assembled. 

David  had  already  organized  the  priesthood  and  the  Levites ; 
and  assigned  to  the  thirty-eight  thousand  of  the  latter  tribe 
each  his  particular  office ;  twenty-four  thousand  were  appointed 
for  the  common  duties,  six  thousand  as  officers,  four  thousand 
as  guards  and  porters,  four  thousand  as  singers  and  musicians. 
On  this  great  occasion,  the  Dedication  of  the  Temple,  all  the 
tribe  of  Levi,  without  regard  to  their  courses,  the  whole  priestly 
order  of  every  class,  attended.  Around  the  great  brazen 
altar,  which  rose  in  the  court  of  the  priests  before  the  door  of 
the  Temple,  stood  in  front  the  sacrificers,  all  around  the  whole 
choir,  arrayed  in  white  linen.  One  hundred  and  twenty  of 
these  were  trumpeters,  the  rest  had  cymbals,  harps,  and  psal- 
teries. Solomon  himself  took  his  place  on  an  elevated  scaffold, 
or  raised  throne  of  brass.  The  whole  assembled  nation  crowded 
the  spacious  courts  beyond.  The  ceremony  began  with  the 
preparation  of  burnt-offerings,  so  numerous  that  they  could  not 
be  counted. 

At  an  appointed  signal  commenced  the  more  important  part 
of  the  scene,  the  removal  of  the  Ark,  the  installation  of  the 
God  of  Israel  in  his  new  and  appropriate  dwelling,  to  the  sound 
of  all  the  voices  and  all  the  instruments,  chanting  some  of  those 
splendid  odes,  the  47th,  97th,  Q8th,  and  iO7th  psalms.  The 
Ark  advanced,  borne  by  the  Levites,  to  the  open  portals  of  the 
Temple.  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the  24th  psalm,  even 
if  composed  before,  was  adopted  and  used  on  this  occasion. 


I00  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

The  singers,  as  it  drew  near  the  gate,  broke  out  in  these  words: 
—Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates,  and  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye  everlast* 
ing  doors,  and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in.  It  was  an- 
swered  from  the  other  part  of  the  choir, —  Who  is  the  King  of 
(^lory  f — the  whole  choir  responded, —  The  Lord  of  Hosts,  he  is 
the  King  of  Glory. 

When  the  procession  arrived  at  the  Holy  Place,  the  gates 
flew  open ;  when  it  reached  the  Holy  of  Holies,  the  veil  was 
drawn  back.  The  Ark  took  its  place  under  the  extended  wings 
of  the  cherubim,  which  might  seem  to  fold  over,  and  receive  it 
under  their  protection.  At  that  instant  all  the  trumpeters  and 
singers  were  at  once  to  make  one  sound  to  be  heard  in  praising 
and  thanking  the  Lord;  and  when  they  lifted  tip  their  voice, 
with  the  trumpets,  and  cymbals,  and  instruments  of  music,  and 
praised  the  Lord,  saying,  For  he  is  good,  for  his  mercy  endureth 
forever,  the  house  was  filled  with  a  cloud,  even  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  so  that  the  priests  could  not  stand  to  minister  by  reason  of 
the  cloud;  for  the  glory  of  the  Lord  had  filled  the  house  of  God. 
Thus  the  Divinity  took  possession  of  his  sacred  edifice. 

The  king  then  rose  upon  the  brazen  scaffold,  knelt  down, 
and  spreading  his  hands  toward  heaven,  uttered  the  prayer  of 
consecration.  The  prayer  was  of  unexampled  sublimity :  while 
it  implored  the  perpetual  presence  of  the  Almighty,  as  the 
tutelar  Deity  and  Sovereign  of  the  Israelites,  it  recognized  his 
spiritual  and  illimitable  nature.  But  will  God  in  very  deed 
dwell  with  men  on  the  earth  ?  behold  heaven  and  the  heaven  of 
fieavens  cannot  contain  thee,  how  much  less  this  Iwuse  which  1 
have  built  t  It  then  recapitulated  the  principles  of  the  Hebrew 
theocracy,  the  dependence  of  the  national  prosperity  and  hap- 
piness on  the  national  conformity  to  the  civil  and  religious  law. 
As  the  king  concluded  in  these  emphatic  terms : — Now,  there- 
fore, arise,  O  Lord  God,  into  thy  resting-place,  thou  and  the 
ark  of  thy  strength:  let  thy  priests,  O  Lord  God,  be  clothed  with 
salvation,  and  thy  saints  rejoice  in  goodness.  O  Lord  God,  turn 
not  away  tJte  face  of  thine  anointed:  remember  the  mercies  of 
David  thy  servant, — the  cloud  which  had  rested  over  the  Holy 
of  Holies  grew  brighter  and  more  dazzling ;  fire  broke  out  and 
consumed  all  the  sacrifices;  the  priests  stood  without,  awe- 
struck by  the  insupportable  splendor;  the  whole  people  fell  on 


101 

their  faces,  and  worshipped  and  praised  the  Lard,  for  he  u 
good,  for  Jiis  mercy  is  forever. 

Which  was  the  greater,  the  external  magnificence,  or  the 
moral  sublimity  of  this  scene  ?  Was  it  the  Temple,  situated  on 
its  commanding  eminence,  with  all  its  courts,  the  dazzling 
splendor  of  its  materials,  the  innumerable  multitudes,  the 
priesthood  in  their  gorgeous  attire,  the  king,  with  all  the  insig- 
nia of  royalty,  on  his  throne  of  burnished  brass,  the  music,  the 
radiant  cloud  filling  the  Temple,  the  sudden  fire  flashing  upon 
the  altar,  the  whole  nation  upon  their  knees  ?  Was  it  not  rather 
the  religious  grandeur  of  the  hymns  and  of  the  prayer:  the  ex- 
alted and  rational  views  of  the  Divine  Nature,  the  union  of  a 
whole  people  in  the  adoration  of  the  one  Great,  Incomprehen- 
sible, Almighty,  Everlasting  Creator? 

This  extraordinary  festival,  which  took  place  at  the  time  of 
that  of  Tabernacles,  lasted  for  two  weeks,  twice  the  usual  time : 
during  this  period  twenty-two  thousand  oxen  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  sheep  were  sacrificed,1  every  individual 
probably  contributing  to  this  great  propitiatory  rite ;  and  the 
whole  people  feasting  on  those  parts  of  the  sacrifices  which 
were  not  set  apart  for  holy  uses. 

Though  the  chief  magnificence  of  Solomon  was  lavished  on 
the  Temple  of  God,  yet  the  sumptuous  palaces  which  he 
erected  for  his  own  residence  display  an  opulence  and  pro- 
fusion which  may  vie  with  the  older  monarchs  of  Egypt  or  As- 
syria. The  great  palace  stood  in  Jerusalem ;  it  occupied  thir- 
teen years  in  building.  A  causeway  bridged  the  deep  ravine, 
and  leading  directly  to  the  Temple,  united  the  part  either  of 
Acra  or  Sion,  on  which  the  palace  stood,  with  Mount  Moriah. 

1  Gibbon,  in  one  of  his  malicious  notes,  observes,  "  As  the  blood  and 
smoke  of  so  many  hecatombs  might  be  inconvenient,  Lightfoot,  the 
Christian  Rabbi,  removes  them  by  a  miracle.  Le  Clerc  (ad  loc.)  is  bold 
enough  to  suspect  the  fidelity  of  the  numbers."  To  this  I  ventured  to 
subjoin  the  following  illustration :  "  According  to  the  historian  Kotobed- 
dyn,  quoted  by  Burckhardt,  Travels  in  Arabia,  p.  276,  the  Khalif  Mok- 
tader  sacrificed  during  his  pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  in  the  year  of  the  Hegira 
350,  forty  thousand  camels  and  cows,  and  fifty  thousand  sheep.  Barthema 
describes  thirty  thousand  oxen  slain,  and  their  carcasses  given  to  the 
poor.  Tavernier  speaks  of  one  hundred  thousand  victims  offered  by  the 
king  of  Tonquin."  Gibbon,  ch.  xxiii.,  iv.,  p.  96,  edit.  Milman. 


102  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

In  this  palace  was  a  vast  hall  for  public  business,  trom  its  cedar 
pillars  called  the  House  of  the  Forest  of  Lebanon.  It  was 
175  feet  long,  half  that  measurement  in  width,  above  50  feet 
high ;  four  rows  of  cedar  columns  supported  a  roof  made  of 
beams  of  the  same  wood ;  there  were  three  rows  of  windows  on 
each  side  facing  each  other.  Besides  this  great  hall,  there 
were  two  others,  called  porches,  of  smaller  dimensions,  in  one 
of  which  the  throne  of  justice  was  placed.  The  harem,  or 
women's  apartments,  adjoined  to  these  buildings ;  with  other 
piles  of  vast  extent  for  different  purposes,  particularly,  if  we 
may  credit  Josephus,  a  great  banqueting  hall. 

The  same  author  informs  us  that  the  whole  was  surrounded 
with  spacious  and  luxuriant  gardens,  and  adds  a  less  credible 
fact,  ornamented  with  sculptures  and  paintings.  Another  pal- 
ace was  built  in  a  romantic  part  of  the  country  in  the  valleys 
at  the  foot  of  Lebanon  for  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of 
Egypt ;  in  the  luxurious  gardens  of  which  we  may  lay  the  scene 
of  that  poetical  epithalamium,1  or  collection  of  Idyls,  the  Song 
of  Solomon.4  The  splendid  works  of  Solomon  were  not  con- 
fined to  royal  magnificence  and  display ;  they  condescended  to 
usefulness.  To  Solomon  are  traced  at  least  the  first  channels 
and  courses  of  the  natural  and  artificial  water  supply  which  has 
always  enabled  Jerusalem  to  maintain  its  thousands  of  wor- 
shippers at  different  periods,  and  to  endure  long  and  obstinate 
sieges." 

The  descriptions  in  the  Greek  writers  of  the  Persian  courts 
in  Susa  and  Ecbatana;  the  tales  of  the  early  travellers  in  the 

1 1  here  assume  that  the  Song  of  Solomon  was  an  epithalamium.  I 
enter  not  into  the  interminable  controversy  as  to  the  literal  or  allegorical 
or  spiritual  meaning  of  this  poem,  nor  into  that  of  its  age.  A  very  par- 
ticular though  succinct  account  of  all  these  theories,  ancient  and  modern, 
may  be  found  in  a  work  by  Dr.  Ginsberg.  I  confess  that  Dr.  Ginsberg's 
theory,  which  is  rather  tinged  with  the  virtuous  sentimentality  of  the  mod- 
era  novel,  seems  to  me  singularly  out  of  harmony  with  the  Oriental  and 
ancient  character  of  the  poem.  It  is  adopted,  however,  though  modified, 
by  M.  Re*nan. 

1  According  to  Ewald,  the  ivory  tower  in  this  poem  was  raised  in  one 
of  these  beautiful  "  pleasances,"  in  the  Anti-Libanus,  looking  toward 
Hamath. 

•Ewald:  Geschichte,  iii.,  pp.  62-68;  a  very  remarkable  and  valuable 
passage. 


SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE  103 

East  about  the  kings  of  Samarcand  or  Cathay ;  and  even  the 
imagination  of  the  Oriental  romancers  and  poets,  have  scarcely 
conceived  a  more  splendid  pageant  than  Solomon,  seated  on 
his  throne  of  ivory,  receiving  the  homage  of  distant  princes 
who  came  to  admire  his  magnificence,  and  put  to  the  test  his 
noted  wisdom.1  This  throne  was  of  pure  ivory,  covered  with 
gold ;  six  steps  led  up  to  the  seat,  and  on  each  side  of  the  steps 
stood  twelve  lions. 

All  the  vessels  of  his  palace  were  of  pure  gold,  silver  was 
thought  too  mean :  his  armory  was  furnished  with  gold ;  two 
hundred  targets  and  three  hundred  shields  of  beaten  gold  were 
suspended  In  the  house  of  Lebanon.  Josephus  mentions  a 
body  of  archers  who  escorted  him  from  the  city  to  his  country 
palace,  clad  in  dresses  of  Tyrian  purple,  and  their  hair  powdered 
with  gold  dust.  But  enormous  as  this  wealth  appears,  the 
statement  of  his  expenditure  on  the  Temple,  and  of  his  annual 
revenue,  so  passes  all  credibility,  that  any  attempt  at  forming 
a  calculation  on  the  uncertain  data  we  possess  may  at  once  be 
abandoned  as  a  hopeless  task.  No  better  proof  can  be  given  of 
the  uncertainty  of  our  authorities,  of  our  imperfect  knowledge 
of  the  Hebrew  weights  of  money,  and,  above  all,  of  our  total 
ignorance  of  the  relative  value  which  the  precious  metals  bore 
to  the  commodities  of  life,  than  the  estimate,  made  by  Dr. 
Prideaux,  of  the  treasures  left  by  David,  amounting  to  eight 
hundred  millions,  nearly  the  capital  of  our  national  debt. 

Our  inquiry  into  the  sources  of  the  vast  wealth  which  Solo- 
mon undoubtedly  possessed  may  lead  to  more  satisfactory, 
though  still  imperfect,  results.  The  treasures  of  David  were 
accumulated  rather  by  conquest  than  by  traffic.  Some  of  the 
nations  he  subdued,  particularly  the  Edomites,  were  wealthy. 
All  the  tribes  seem  to  have  worn  a  great  deal  of  gold  and  silver 
in  their  ornaments  and  their  armor ;  their  idols  were  often  of 
gold,  and  the  treasuries  of  their  temples  perhaps  contained 
considerable  wealth.  But  during  the  reign  of  Solomon  almost 
the  whole  commerce  of  the  world  passed  into  his  territories. 
The  treaty  with  Tyre  was  of  the  utmost  importance :  nor  is 
there  any  instance  in  which  two  neighboring  nations  so  clearly 

1  Compare  the  great  Mogul's  throne,  in  Tavernier;  that  of  the  King 
of  Persia,  in  Morier. 


104  SOLOMON'S  TEMPLE 

saw,  and  so  steadily  pursued,  without  jealousy  or  mistrust, 
their  mutual  and  inseparable  interests.1 

On  one  occasion  only,  when  Solomon  presented  to  Hiram 
twenty  inland  cities  which  he  had  conquered,  Hiram  expressed 
great  dissatisfaction,  and  called  the  territory  by  the  opprobrious 
name  of  Cabul.  The  Tyrian  had  perhaps  cast  a  wistful  eye  on 
the  noble  bay  and  harbor  of  Acco,  or  Ptolemais,  which  the  pru- 
dent Hebrew  either  would  not,  or  could  not — since  it  was  part 
of  the  promised  land — dissever  from  his  dominions.  So  strict 
was  the  confederacy,  that  Tyre  may  be  considered  the  port  of 
Palestine,  Palestine  the  granary  of  Tyre.  Tyre  furnished  the 
shipbuilders  and  mariners ;  the  fruitful  plains  of  Palestine  vict- 
ualled the  fleets,  and  supplied  the  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants of  the  Phoenician  league  with  all  the  necessaries  of  life.* 

1  The  very  learned  work  of  Movers,  Die  Phonizier  (Bonn,  1841,  Ber- 
lin, 1849)  contains  everything  which  true  German  industry  and  compre- 
hensiveness can  accumulate  about  this  people.  Movers,  though  in  such 
an  inquiry  conjecture  is  inevitable,  is  neither  so  bold,  so  arbitrary,  nor 
so  dogmatic  in  his  conjectures  as  many  of  his  contemporaries.  See  on 
Hiram,  ii.  326  et  seq.  Movers  is  disposed  to  appreciate  as  of  high  value 
the  fragments  preserved  in  Josephus  of  the  Phoenician  histories  of  Me- 
nander  and  Dios. 

Mr.  Kenrick's  Phoenicia  may  also  be  consulted  with  advantage. 

9  To  a  late  period  Tyre  and  Sidon  were  mostly  dependent  on  Pales- 
tine for  their  supply  of  grain.  The  inhabitants  of  these  cities  desired 
peace  with  Herod  (Agrippa)  because  their  country  was  nourished  by  the 
king's  country  (Acts  xii.,  20). 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ASSYRIA 
DESTRUCTION  OF  NINEVEH 

B.C.  789 

F.  LENORMANT  AND  E.  CHEVALLIER 

Mesopotamia  for  many  centuries  was  the  field  of  battle  for  the  oppos- 
ing hosts  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  each  striving  for  mastery  over  the 
other.  At  first  each  city  had  its  own  prince,  but  at  length  one  of  these 
petty  kingdoms  absorbed  the  rest,  and  Nineveh  became  the  capital  of  a 
united  Assyria.  Babylonia  had  her  own  kings,  but  they  were  little  more 
than  hereditary  satraps  receiving  investiture  from  Nineveh. 

From  about  B.C.  1060  to  1020  Babylon  seems  to  have  recovered  the 
upper  hand.  Her  victories  put  an  end  to  what  is  known  as  the  First  As- 
syrian Empire.  After  a  few  generations  a  new  family  ascended  the 
throne  and  ultimately  founded  the  Second  Assyrian  Empire. 

The  first  princes  whose  figured  monuments  have  come  down  to  us  be- 
longed to  those  days.  The  oldest  of  all  was  Assurnizirpal ;  the  bas- 
reliefs  with  which  his  palace  was  decorated  are  now  in  the  British  Museum 
and  the  Louvre ;  most  of  them  in  the  former.  His  son  Shalmaneser  III, 
and  later  Shalmaneser  IV,  made  many  campaigns  against  the  neighbor- 
ing peoples,  and  Assyria  became  rapidly  a  great  and  powerful  nation. 
The  effeminate  Sardanapalus  was  the  last  of  the  dynasty. 

The  capital  of  Assyria  was  Nineveh,  one  of  the  most  famous  of  cities. 
It  was  remarkable  for  extent,  wealth,  and  architectural  grandeur.  Dio- 
dorus  Siculus  says  its  walls  were  sixty  miles  around  and  one  hundred  feet 
high.  Three  chariots  could  be  driven  abreast  around  the  summit  of  its 
walls,  which  were  defended  by  fifteen  hundred  bastions,  each  of  them  two 
hundred  feet  in  height.  These  dimensions  may  be  exaggerated,  but  the 
Hebrew  scriptures  and  recent  excavations  at  the  ancient  site  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  the  splendor  of  the  Assyrian  palaces  and  the  greatness  of  the 
city  of  Nineveh  in  population,  wealth,  and  power.  In  historical  times  it 
was  destroyed  by  the  Medes,  under  King  Cyaxares,  and  by  the  Babylo- 
nians, under  Nebuchadnezzar,  about  B.C.  607. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  monuments,  tablets,  and  "  books  "  recently 
discovered  for  the  history  of  Assyria  and  other  ancient  oriental  nations. 
Layard  unearthed  the  greater  portion,  on  the  site  of  ancient  Nineveh,  of 
the  Assyrian  "  books  "  (for  so  are  named  the  tablets  of  clay,  sometimes 
enamelled,  at  others  only  sun-dried  or  burnt).  The  writing  on  these 

105 


106  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ASSYRIA 

"  books  "  Is  the  cuneiform,  and  was  done  by  impressing  the  "  style  "  on  the 
clay  while  in  a  waxlike  condition.  Many  of  the  tablets  were  broken 
when  Layard  and  Rawlinson  gave  them  over  to  the  British  Museum. 
The  reconstruction  of  these  tablets  was  undertaken  by  George  Smith,  an 
English  Assyriologist  of  the  British  Museum,  who  displayed  great  skill 
and  earnest  application  in  the  deciphering  of  the  cuneiform  text. 

In  each  reign  the  history  of  the  king  and  his  acts  was  written  by  a 
poet  or  historian  detailed  to  that  office.  The  "  books  "  were  collected  and 
''ept  in  great  libraries,  the  largest  of  these  being  made  by  Sardanapalus. 

greater  part  of  the  expeditions  of  Shalmaneser  IV,  suc- 
ceeding each  other  year  after  year,  were  directed,  like 
those  of  his  father,  sometimes  to  the  north,  into  Armenia  and 
Pontus ;  sometimes  to  the  east,  into  Media,  never  completely 
subdued ;  sometimes  to  the  south,  into  Chaldaea,  where  revolts 
were  of  constant  occurrence;  and  finally  westward,  toward 
Syria  and  the  region  of  Amanus.  In  this  direction  he  ad- 
vanced farther  than  his  predecessors,  and  came  into  contact 
with  some  personages  mentioned  in  Bible  history.  The  part  of 
his  annals  relating  to  the  campaigns  that  brought  him  into  col- 
lision with  the  kings  of  Damascus  and  Israel  possesses  peculiar 
interest  for  us,  much  greater  than  that  attaching  to  the  narra- 
tive of  any  other  wars. 

The  sixteenth  campaign  of  Shalmaneser  IV  (B.C.  890)  com- 
menced a  new  series  of  wars ;  the  King  crossed  the  Zab,  or 
Zabat,  to  make  war  on  the  mountain  people  of  Upper  Media, 
and  afterward  on  the  Scythian  tribes  around  the  Caspian  Sea. 
He  did  not,  however,  abandon  the  western  countries,  where  he 
soon  found  himself  opposed  by  the  new  King  whom  the  revo- 
lution arising  from  the  influence  of  Elisha  the  prophet  had 
placed  on  the  throne  of  Damascus  in  the  room  of  Benhidai. 

"In  my  eighteenth  campaign "  (886),  we  read  on  the  Nim- 
rud  obelisk,  "  I  crossed  the  Euphrates  for  the  sixteenth  time. 
Hazael,  king  of  Damascus,  came  toward  me  to  give  battle.  I 
took  from  him  eleven  hundred  and  twenty-one  chariots  and 
four  hundred  and  seventy  horsemen,  with  his  camp. 

"  In  my  nineteenth  campaign  (885)  I  crossed  the  Euphrates 
/or  the  eighteenth  time.  I  marched  toward  Mount  Amanus, 
and  there  cut  beams  of  cedar. 

"In  my  twenty-first  campaign  (883)  I  crossed  the  Euphra- 
tes for  the  twenty-second  time.  I  marched  to  the  cities  of  Ha- 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  ASSYRIA  107 

zael  of  Damascus.    I  received  tribute  from  Tyre,  Sidon,  and 
Byblus." 

It  evidently  was  at  the  end  of  this  campaign  that  Jehu, 
king  of  Israel,  whose  territory  Hazael  had  ravaged,  appealed  to 
Shalmaneser  for  help  against  his  powerful  enemy.  The  in- 
scription on  the  obelisk  says  that  the  Assyrian  King  received 
tribute  from  Jehu,  whom  it  names  "  son  of  Omri,"  for  the  great 
renown  of  the  founder  of  Samaria  had  made  the  Assyrians  con- 
sider all  the  kings  of  Israel  as  his  descendants.  One  of  the 
bas-reliefs  of  the  same  monument  represents  Jehu  prostrat- 
ing himself  before  Shalmaneser,  as  if  acknowledging  himself  a 
vassal. 

The  annals  of  Shalmaneser  say  no  more  after  this,  either 
of  the  king  of  Damascus  or  of  Israel.  They  record,  as  his 
twenty-seventh  campaign,  a  great  war  in  Armenia  that  brought 
about  the  submission  of  all  the  districts  of  that  country  that 
still  resisted  the  Assyrian  monarch.  In  the  thirty-first  cam- 
paign (873),  the  last  mentioned  on  the  obelisk,  the  King  sent 
the  general-in-chief  of  his  armies,  Tartan,  again  into  Armenia, 
where  he  gave  up  to  pillage  fifty  cities,  among  them  Van ;  and 
during  this  time  he  himself  went  into  Media,  subjected  part  of 
the  northern  districts  of  that  country,  which  were  in  a  state 
of  rebellion,  chastised  the  people  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mount 
Elwand,  where  in  after-times  Ecbatana  was  built,  and  finally 
made  war  on  the  Scythians  of  the  Caspian  Sea. 

The  official  chronology  of  the  Assyrians  dates  the  termina- 
tion of  the  reign  of  Shalmaneser  IV  in  870,  the  period  of  his 
death.  But  during  the  last  two  years  his  power  was  entirely 
lost,  and  he  was  reduced  to  the  possession  of  two  cities,  Nine- 
veh and  Calah.  His  second  son,  Asshurdaninpal,  in  conse- 
quence of  circumstances  unknown  to  us,  raised  the  standard  of 
revolt  against  his  father,  assumed  the  royal  title,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  twenty-seven  of  the  most  important  cities  in  the 
empire.  One  of  the  monuments  has  preserved  a  list  of  -these 
cities,  and  among  them  we  find  Arrapkha,  capital  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Arrapachitis,  Amida  (now  Diarbekr),  Arbela,  Ellasar, 
and  all  the  towns  of  the  banks  of  the  Tigris.  War  broke  out 
between  the  father  and  his  rebellious  son ;  the  army  embraced 
the  cause  of  the  latter;  he  was  recognized  by  all  the  provinces, 


to8  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ASSYRIA 

and  kept  Shalmaneser  until  his  death  shut  up  and  closely  block- 
aded in  his  capital. 

Shalmaneser  died  in  B.C.  870;  his  son,  Shamash-Bin,  con- 
tinued  the  legitimate  line.  He  succeeded  in  repressing  the 
revolt  of  his  brother  Asshurdaninpal  and  in  depriving  him  of 
the  authority  he  had  usurped.  The  monument  recording  the 
exploits  of  his  first  years  gives  no  details,  however,  of  the  civil 
war;  it  merely  records,  after  enumerating  the  cities  that  had 
joined  the  revolt  of  Asshurdaninpal,  "  With  the  aid  of  the  great 
gods,  my  masters,  I  subjected  them  to  my  sceptre." 

The  usurpation  of  the  second  son  of  Shalmaneser  and  a 
civil  war  of  five  years  had  introduced  many  disorders  into  the 
empire  and  shaken  the  fidelity  of  many  provinces.  The  early 
years  of  Shamash-Bin  were  occupied  in  reducing  the  whole  to 
order.  In  the  narrative  which  has  been  preserved,  extending 
only  to  his  fourth  year,  we  find  that  the  King  overran  and  chas- 
tised with  terrible  severity  Osrhoene  or  Aramaean  Mesopota- 
mia, where  the  people  had  been  in  rebellion,  and  reduced  to 
obedience  the  mountainous  districts,  where  are  the  sources  of 
the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  and  finally  Armenia  proper.  In  his 
fourth  year  he  marched  against  Mardukbalatirib,  king  of  Baby- 
lon, who  had  taken  advantage  of  the  disorders  in  Assyria  to  as- 
sert his  independence,  and  who  was  supported  by  the  Susia- 
nians  or  Elamites.  He  completely  defeated  him  and  compelled 
him  to  fly  to  the  desert,  killed  very  many  of  his  army  in  the 
battle,  took  two  hundred  war  chariots,  and  made  seven  thou- 
sand prisoners,  of  whom  five  thousand  were  put  to  death  on  the 
field  of  battle  as  an  example.  Unfortunately  our  information 
ceases  at  that  period  and  we  know  absolutely  nothing  of  the 
greater  part  of  the  reign  of  Shamash-Bin,  or  of  the  expeditions 
to  the  west  of  Asia,  Syria,  and  Palestine,  that  must  have  been 
made  after  the  termination  of  the  campaigns  by  which  the  royal 
authority  was  reestablished  in  all  the  ancient  provinces  of  the 
empire.  This  King  remained  on  the  throne  until  857.  In  859 
and  858  he  had  to  repress  a  great  revolt  in  Babylon  and  Chal- 
daea. 

Binlikhish  [or  Binnirari]  III,  the  next  king,  reigned  twenty- 
nine  years,  from  857  to  828.  An  inscription  of  his,  engraved 
in  the  first  years  of  his  reign,  describing  the  extent  of  the  em- 


RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ASSYRIA  109 

pire,  says  that  he  governed  on  one  side  "  From  the  land  of  Si- 
luna,  toward  the  rising  sun,  the  countries  of  Elam,  Albania  (at 
the  foot  of  Caucasus),  Kharkhar,  Araziash,  Misu,  Media,  Gi- 
ratbunda  (a  portion  of  Atropatene,  frequently  mentioned  in 
the  cuneiform  inscriptions),  the  lands  of  Munna,  Parsua  (Par- 
thia),  Allabria  (Hyrcania),  Abdadana  (Hecatompyla),  Namri 
(the  Caspian  Scythians),  even  to  all  the  tribes  of  the  Andiu 
(a  Turanian  or  Scythian  people,  whose  country  is  far  off),  the 
whole  of  the  mountainous  country  as  far  as  the  sea  of  the  rising 
sun,  the  Caspian  Sea ;  on  the  other  side  from  the  Euphrates, 
Syria,  all  Phoenicia,  the  land  of  Tyre,  of  Sidon,  the  land  of  Omri 
(Samaria),  Edom,  the  Philistines,  as  far  as  the  sea  of  the  set- 
ting sun  (the  Mediterranean)  " ;  on  all  these  countries  he  says 
that  "  he  imposed  tribute." 

"I  marched,"  he  says  again,  "against  the  land  of  Syria, 
and  I  took  Marih,  king  of  Syria,  in  Damascus,  the  city  of  his 
kingdom.  The  great  dread  of  Asshur,  my  master,  persuaded 
him ;  he  embraced  my  knees  and  made  submission." 

Binlikhish  III  was  a  warlike  prince;  every  year  of  his  reign 
was  marked  by  an  expedition.  We  have  a  summary  of  these 
in  a  chronological  tablet  in  the  British  Museum,  containing  a 
fragment — from  the  end  of  the  reign  of  Shamash-Bin  to  that  of 
Tiglath-pileser  II — of  a  canon  of  eponymes  mentioning  the  prin- 
cipal events  year  by  year.  They  nearly  all  occurred  in  South- 
ern Armenia  and  in  the  land  of  Van,  where  obedience  was  only 
maintained  by  incessant  military  demonstrations,  and  subse- 
quently in  the  countries  to  the  north  of  Media  as  far  as  the 
Caspian  Sea.  Other  expeditions  were  also  made  as  far  as  Par- 
thia,  toward  Ariana  and  the  various  countries  that,  to  the  As- 
syrians, were  the  extreme  East.  We  do  not,  however,  know 
what  that  region  was  called  by  them,  as  it  is  always  designated 
by  a  group  of  ideographic  characters  of  unknown  pronuncia- 
tion. By  the  defeat  of  Marih,  king  of  Damascus,  the  submis- 
sion of  the  western  provinces  was  secured  for  the  remainder  of 
this  reign,  for  there  is  no  record  of  any  other  campaign  there. 

The  year  849  was  marked  by  a  great  plague  in  Assyria;  834 
by  a  religious  festival,  of  which  unfortunately  no  particulars  are 
known;  and,  lastly,  833  by  the  solemn  inauguration  of  anew 
temple  to  the  god  Nebo,  in  the  capital. 


no  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ASSYRIA 

But  the  most  interesting  monument  of  the  reign  of  Binlik- 
hish  III  is  the  statue  of  Nebo,  one  of  the  great  gods  of  Baby- 
lon, discovered  by  Mr.  Loftus  and  now  in  the  British  Museum ; 
the  inscription  on  the  base  of  the  statue  mentions  the  wife  of 
the  King,  and  calls  her  "  the  queen  Sammuramat " ;  this  is  the 
only  historical  Semiramis,  the  one  mentioned  by  Herodotus. 
He  places  her  correctly  about  a  century  and  a  half  before  Ni- 
tocris,  the  wife  of  Nabopolassar,  king  of  Babylon.  "  Semira- 
mis," says  the  father  of  history,  "  raised  magnificent  embank- 
ments to  restrain  the  river  (Euphrates),  which  till  then  used  to 
overflow  and  flood  the  whole  country  round  Babylon."  But 
why  did  Herodotus,  and  the  Babylonian  tradition  he  has  so 
faithfully  reported,  attribute  these  useful  works  to  the  queen 
and  not  to  her  husband,  Binlikhish  ?  It  was  once  supposed,  as 
a  solution  of  this  problem,  that  Sammuramat  had  governed 
alone  for  some  time,  as  queen  regnant,  after  the  death  of  her 
husband.  But  this  conjecture  is  absolutely  contradicted  by  the 
table  of  eponymes  in  the  British  Museum,  where  it  can  be  seen 
that  Sammuramat  never  reigned  alone.  In  our  opinion  the 
only  possible  explanation  will  be  found  in  regarding  Binlikhish 
and  Sammuramat  as  the  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  of  Mesopota- 
mia. The  restless  desire  of  Babylonia  and  Chaldaea  to  form  a 
state  separate  from  Assyria  grew  more  decided  as  time  went 
on;  in  the  time  of  Binlikhish  it  had  already  gained  great 
strength,  and  the  day  was  not  far  distant  when  the  separation 
was  definitely  to  take  place,  and  to  occasion  the  utter  ruin  of 
Nineveh.  In  this  position  of  affairs  it  was  natural  for  a  king 
of  Assyria  to  seek  to  strengthen  his  authority  in  Chaldaea  by  a 
marriage  with  a  daughter  of  the  royal  line  of  that  country,  who 
were  his  vassals,  and  thus,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people  of  Baby- 
lon, acquire  a  legitimate  right  to  the  possession  of  the  country 
by  means  of  his  wife,  as  well  as  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  the  attachment  of  the  people  to  their  own  legitimate  sov- 
ereign. We  shall  therefore  consider  Sammuramat  as  a  Baby- 
lonian princess  married  by  Binlikhish,  and  as  reigning  nomi- 
nally at  Babylon  while  her  husband  occupied  the  throne  at 
Nineveh,  and  as  being  the  only  sovereign  registered  by  the 
Babylonians  in  their  national  annals.  In  fact,  her  position 
must  have  been  a  peculiar  one ;  she  must  have  been  considered 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  ASSYRIA  in 

the  rightful  queen  in  one  part  of  the  empire,  to  have  been 
named  as  queen,  and  in  the  same  rank  as  the  king,  in  such  an 
official  document  as  the  inscription  on  the  statue  of  the  god 
Nebo.  She  is  the  only  princess  mentioned  in  any  of  the  As- 
syrian texts,  as  we  might  naturally  suppose ;  for  unless  under 
such  very  exceptional  circumstances  as  we  imagine  in  the  case 
of  Sammuramat,  there  can  have  been  no  queens,  but  only  favor- 
ite concubines, .under  the  organization  of  harem  life,  such  as  it 
was  under  the  Assyrian  kings,  and  as  it  still  is  in  our  days. 

The  exaggerated  development  of  the  Assyrian  empire  was 
quite  unnatural ;  the  kings  of  Nineveh  had  never  succeeded  in 
welding  into  one  nation  the  numerous  tribes  whom  they  sub- 
dued by  force  of  arms,  or  in  checking  in  them  the  spirit  of  in- 
dependence; they  had  not  even  attempted  to  do  so.  The 
empire  was  absolutely  without  cohesion ;  the  administrative  sys- 
tem was  so  imperfect,  the  bond  attaching  the  various  provinces 
to  each  other,  and  to  the  centre  of  the  monarchy,  so  weak  that 
at  the  commencement  of  almost  every  reign  a  revolt  broke  out, 
sometimes  at  one  point,  sometimes  at  another. 

It  was  therefore  easy  to  foresee  that,  so  soon  as  the  reins  of 
government  were  no  longer  in  a  really  strong  hand — so  soon  as 
the  king  of  Assyria  should  cease  to  be  an  active  and  warlike 
king,  always  in  the  field,  always  at  the  head  of  his  troops — the 
great  edifice  laboriously  built  up  by  his  predecessors  of  the 
tenth  and  ninth  centuries  would  collapse,  and  the  immense 
fabric  of  empire  would  vanish  like  smoke  with  such  rapidity  as 
to  astonish  the  world.  And  this  is  exactly  what  occurred  after 
the  death  of  Binlikhish  III. 

The  tablet  in  the  British  Museum  allows  us  to  follow  year 
by  year  the  events  and  the  progress  of  the  dissolution  of  the 
empire.  Under  Shalmaneser  V,  who  reigned  from  B.C.  828  to 
8 1 8,  some  foreign  expeditions  were  still  made,  as,  for  instance, 
to  Damascus  in  B.C.  819;  but  the  forces  of  the  empire  were 
especially  engaged  during  many  following  years  in  attempting 
to  hold  countries  already  subdued,  such  as  Armenia,  then  in  a 
chronic  state  of  revolt ;  the  wars  in  one  and  the  same  province 
were  constant,  and  occupied  some  six  successive  campaigns — 
the  Armenian  war  was  from  B.C.  827  to  822 — proving  that  no 
decisive  results  were  obtained. 


H2  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ASSYRIA 

Under  Asshur-edil-ilani  II,  who  reigned  from  B.C.  818  to 
800,  we  do  not  see  any  new  conquests ;  insurrections  constantly 
broke  out,  and  were  no  longer  confined  to  the  extremities  of  the 
empire ;  they  encroached  on  the  heart  of  the  country,  and  grad- 
ually approached  nearer  to  Nineveh.  The  revolutionary  spirit 
increased  in  the  provinces,  a  great  insurrection  became  immi- 
nent, and  was  ready  to  break  out  on  the  slightest  excuse.  At 
this  period,  B.C.  804,  it  is  that  the  British  Museum  tablet  regis- 
ters, as  a  memorable  fact  in  the  column  of  events,  "  Peace  in 
the  land."  Two  great  plagues  are  also  mentioned  under  this 
reign,  in  811  and  805,  and  on  the  I3th  of  June,  B.C.  809 — 30 
Sivan  in  the  eponymos  of  Bur-el-salkhi — an  almost  total  eclipse 
of  the  sun,  visible  at  Nineveh. 

The  revolution  was  not  long  in  coming.  Asshurlikhish 
[Assurbanipal]  ascended  the  throne  in  B.C.  800,  and  fixed  his 
residence  at  Nineveh,  instead  of  Ellasar,  where  his  predecessor 
had  lived  after  quitting  Nineveh ;  he  is  the  Sardanapalus  of  the 
Greeks,  the  ever-famous  prototype  of  the  voluptuous  and 
effeminate  prince.  The  tablet  in  the  British  Museum  only 
mentions  two  expeditions  in  his  reign,  both  of  small  impor- 
tance, in  795  and  794 ;  to  all  the  other  years  the  only  notice  is 
"  in  the  country,"  proving  that  nothing  was  done  and  that  all 
thought  of  war  was  abandoned. 

Sardanapalus  had  entirely  given  himself  up  to  the  orgies  of 
his  harem,  and  never  left  his  palace  walls,  entirely  renouncing 
all  manly  and  warlike  habits  of  life.  He  had  reigned  thus  for 
seven  years,  and  discontent  continued  to  increase ;  the  desire 
for  independence  was  spreading  in  the  subject  provinces;  the 
bond  of  their  obedience  each  year  relaxed  still  more,  and  was 
nearer  breaking,  when  Arbaces,  who  commanded  the  Median 
contingent  of  the  army  and  was  himself  a  Mede,  chanced  to  see 
in  the  palace  at  Nineveh  the  King,  in  a  female  dress,  spindle  in 
hand,  hiding  in  the  retirement  of  the  harem  his  slothful  coward- 
ice and  voluptuous  life. 

He  considered  that  it  would  be  easy  to  deal  with  a  prince 
so  degraded,  who  would  be  unable  to  renew  the  valorous  tradi- 
tions of  his  ancestors.  The  time  seemed  to  him  to  have  come 
when  the  provinces,  held  only  by  force  of  arms,  might  finally 
throw  off  the  weighty  Assyrian  yoke.  Arbaces  communicated 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  ASSYRIA  113 

his  ideas  and  projects  to  the  prince  then  intrusted  with  the 
government  of  Babylon,  the  Chaldaean  Phul  (Palia?),  sur- 
named  Balazu  (the  Terrible),  a  name  the  Greeks  have  made 
into  Belesis ;  he  entered  into  the  plot  with  the  willingness  to 
be  expected  from  a  Babylonian,  one  of  a  nation  so  frequently 
rising  in  revolt. 

Arbaces  and  Balazu  consulted  with  other  chiefs,  who  com- 
manded contingents  of  foreign  troops,  and  with  the  vassal 
kings  of  those  countries  that  aspired  to  independence ;  and  they 
all  formed  the  resolution  of  overthrowing  Sardanapalus.  Ar- 
baces engaged  to  raise  the  Medes  and  Persians,  while  Balazu 
set  on  foot  the  insurrection  in  Babylon  and  Chaldaea.  At  the 
end  of  a  year  the  chiefs  assembled  their  soldiers,  to  the  num- 
ber of  forty  thousand,  in  Assyria,  under  the  pretext  of  relieving, 
according  to  custom,  the  troops  who  had  served  the  former 
year. 

When  once  there,  the  soldiers  broke  into  open  rebellion. 
The  tablet  in  the  British  Museum  tells  us  that  the  insurrection 
commenced  at  Calah  in  B.C.  792.  Immediately  after  this  the 
confusion  became  so  great  that  from  this  year  there  was  no 
nomination  of  an  eponyme. 

Sardanapalus,  rudely  interrupted  in  his  debaucheries  by  a 
danger  he  had  not  been  able  to  foresee,  showed  himself  sud- 
denly inspired  with  activity  and  courage ;  he  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  native  Assyrian  troops  who  remained  faithful  to 
him,  met  the  rebels,  and  gained  three  complete  victories  over 
them. 

The  confederates  already  began  to  despair  of  success,  when 
Phul,  calling  in  the  aid  of  superstition  to  a  cause  that  seemed 
lost,  declared  to  them  that  if  they  would  hold  together  for  five 
days  more,  the  gods,  whose  will  he  had  ascertained  by  consult- 
ing the  stars,  would  undoubtedly  give  them  the  victory. 

In  fact,  some  days  afterward  a  large  body  of  troops,  whom 
the  King  had  summoned  to  his  assistance  from  the  provinces 
near  the  Caspian  Sea,  went  over,  on  their  arrival,  to  the  side 
of  the  insurgents  and  gained  them  a  victory.  Sardanapalus 
then  shut  himself  up  in  Nineveh,  and  determined  to  defend 
himself  to  the  last.  The  siege  continued  two  years,  for  the 
walls  of  the  city  were  too  strong  for  the  battering  machines  of 
E.,  VOL.  i.— 8 


ii4  RISE  AND  FALL  OF  ASSYRIA 

the  enemy,  who  were  compelled  to  trust  to  reducing  it  by  fam- 
ine. Sardanapalus  was  under  no  apprehension,  confiding  in  an 
oracle  declaring  that  Nineveh  should  never  be  taken  until  the 
river  became  its  enemy. 

But,  in  the  third  year,  rain  fell  in  such  abundance  that  the 
waters  of  the  Tigris  inundated  part  of  the  city  and  overturned 
one  of  its  walls  for  a  distance  of  twenty  stades.  Then  the  King, 
convinced  that  the  oracle  was  accomplished  and  despairing  of 
any  means  of  escape,  to  avoid  falling  alive  into  the  enemy's 
hands  constructed  in  his  palace  an  immense  funeral  pyre, 
placed  on  it  his  gold  and  silver  and  his  royal  robes,  and  then, 
shutting  himself  up  with  his  wives  and  eunuchs  in  a  chamber 
formed  in  the  midst  of  the  pile,  disappeared  in  the  flames. 

Nineveh  opened  its  gates  to  the  besiegers,  but  this  tardy 
submission  did  not  save  the  proud  city.  It  was  pillaged  and 
burned,  and  then  razed  to  the  ground  so  completely  as  to  evi- 
dence the  implacable  hatred  enkindled  in  the  minds  of  subject 
nations  by  the  fierce  and  cruel  Assyrian  government.  The 
Medes  and  Babylonians  did  not  leave  one  stone  upon  another 
in  the  ramparts,  palaces,  temples,  or  houses  of  the  city  that  for 
two  centuries  had  been  dominant  over  all  Western  Asia. 

So  complete  was  the  destruction  that  the  excavations  of 
modern  explorers  on  the  site  of  Nineveh  have  not  yet  found 
one  single  wall  slab  earlier  than  the  capture  of  the  city  by  Ar- 
baces  and  Balazu.  All  we  possess  of  the  first  Nineveh  is  one 
broken  statue.  History  has  no  other  example  of  so  complete  a 
destruction. 

The  Assyrian  empire  was,  like  the  capital,  overthrown,  and 
the  people  who  had  taken  part  in  the  revolt  formed  independent 
states — the  Medes  under  Arbaces,  the  Babylonians  under  Phul 
or  Balazu,  and  the  Susianians  under  Shutruk-Nakhunta.  As- 
syria, reduced  to  the  enslaved  state  in  which  she  had  so  long 
held  other  countries,  remained  for  some  time  a  dependency  of 
Babylon. 

This  great  event  occurred  in  the  year  B.C.  789. 

[When  the  noble  sculptures  and  vast  palaces  of  Nimrud  had 
been  first  uncovered,  it  was  natural  to  suppose  that  they  marked 
the  real  site  of  ancient  Nineveh ;  a  passage  of  Strabo,  and  an- 
other of  Ptolemy,  lent  confirmation  to  this  theory.  Shortly 


RISE  AND   FALL  OF  ASSYRIA  115 

afterward  a  rival  claimant  started  up  in  the  region  farther  to 
the  north. 

"After  a  while  an  attempt  was  made  to  reconcile  the  rival 
claims  by  a  theory  the  grandeur  of  which  gained  it  acceptance, 
despite  its  improbability.  It  was  suggested  that  the  various 
ruins,  which  had  hitherto  disputed  the  name,  were  in  fact  all 
included  within  the  circuit  of  the  ancient  Nineveh,  which  was 
described  as  a  rectangle,  or  oblong  square,  eighteen  miles  long 
and  twelve  broad.  The  remains  at  Khorsabad,  Koyunjik, 
Nimrud,  and  Keremles  marked  the  four  corners  of  this  vast 
quadrangle,  which  contained  an  area  of  two  hundred  and  six- 
teen square  miles — about  ten  times  that  of  London ! 

"  In  confirmation  of  this  view  was  urged,  first,  the  descrip- 
tion in  Diodorus,  derived  probably  from  Ctesias,  which  corre- 
sponded (it  was  said)  both  with  the  proportions  and  with  the 
actual  distances;  and,  next,  the  statements  contained  in  the 
Book  of  Jonah,  which,  it  was  argued,  implied  a  city  of  some 
such  dimensions.  The  parallel  of  Babylon,  according  to  the 
description  given  by  Herodotus,  might  fairly  have  been  cited 
as  a  further  argument ;  since  it  might  have  seemed  reasonable 
to  suppose  that  there  was  no  great  difference  of  size  between 
the  chief  cities  of  the  two  kindred  empires." — Rawlinson^ 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME 

B.C.  753 
BARTHOLD  GEORG  NIEBUHR 

Rome  occupies  a  unique  position  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The 
whole  Mediterranean  basin  was  at  one  time  merely  a  Roman  lake,  and 
the  adjacent  countries  were  Roman  in  letters,  law,  religion  and  the  prac- 
tice of  war.  Roman  roads  crossed  the  continents  east  and  west  and 
penetrated  to  the  depths  of  Asia  and  Africa.  Roman  garrisons  were 
stationed  in  every  important  city  of  the  provinces,  and  when  the  great 
city  on  the  banks  of  the  Tiber  at  last  fell  before  successive  irruptions  of 
northeasterly  barbarians  and  Roman  power  was  at  its  extreme  ebb,  the 
spirit  of  Roman  institutions  still  survived  in  the  civilization  of  Spain, 
France,  Italy,  Britain,  even  in  Greece  and  Asia.  Roman  law  had  be- 
come the  code  of  the  world.  Iberian,  Gaul,  and  Italian  had  modified  in 
varying  degree  their  native  dialects  in  conformity  with  the  more  copious 
and  logical  idiom  of  Latium. 

A  group  of  legends  gathers  round  the  birthplace  of  the  Eternal  City. 
It  is  ^Cneas  who  escapes  from  Troy  and  brings  into  the  land  of  Italian 
Latinus  his  native  gods.  His  son  Ascanius  conquers  and  slays  Mezen- 
tius  in  a  battle  between  Latins  and  Etruscans,  and  eleven  kings  of  Alba, 
all  surnamed  Silvius,  succeeded  him  on  the  throne.  The  last  king  of 
Alba  Longa  is  Procas,  whose  usurping  son  Amulius  drives  his  eldest 
brother  Numitorfrom  the  throne.  Numitor's  daughter,  Silvia,  becomes 
the  mother  of  the  immortal  twins  Romulus  and  Remus,  by  Mamers,  the 
god  of  war;  the  children  are  exposed  by  cruel  Amulius,  suckled  by  a 
wolf,  and  become  founders  of  Rome. 

Such  is  the  outline  of  the  poem,  or  rather  tissue  of  poetry  in  which 
the  founding  of  Rome  is  embalmed. 

The  critical  acumen  of  Niebuhr  may  have  dispelled  some  of  the 
clouds  and  contradictions  in  which  early  historians  and  poets  have 
wrapped  the  record  of  this  great  event.  But  no  critic  can  ever  destroy 
the  beauty  and  charm  of  the  old  Latin  chronicles  or  diminish  the  glory 
of  the  day  that  saw  the  first  walls  rise  about  the  seven  hills  of  the  most 
important  of  ancient  European  cities. 

BELIEVE  that  few  persons,  when  Alba  is  mentioned,  can 
get  rid  of  the  idea,  to  which  I  too  adhered  for  a  long  time, 
that  the  history  of  Alba  is  lost  to  such  an  extent,  that  we  can 
speak  of  it  only  in  reference  to  the  Trojan  time  and  the  pre- 
116 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME  117 

ceding  period,  as  if  all  the  statements  made  concerning  it  by 
the  Romans  were  based  upon  fancy  and  error ;  and  that  accord- 
ingly it  must  be  effaced  from  the  pages  of  history  altogether. 
It  is  true  that  what  we  read  concerning  the  foundation  of  Alba 
by  Ascanius,  and  the  wonderful  signs  accompanying  it,  as  well 
as  the  whole  series  of  the  Alban  kings,  with  the  years  of  their 
reigns,  the  story  of  Numitor  and  Amulius  and  the  story  of  the 
destruction  of  the  city,  do  not  belong  to  history ;  but  the  his- 
torical existence  of  Alba  is  not  at  all  doubtful  on  that  account, 
nor  have  the  ancients  ever  doubted  it.  The  Sacra  Albana  and 
the  Albani  tumuli  atque  luci,  which  existed  as  late  as  the  time 
of  Cicero,  are  proofs  of  its  early  existence;  ruins  indeed  no 
longer  exist,  but  the  situation  of  the  city  in  the  valley  of  Grotta 
Ferrata  may  still  be  recognized.  Between  the  lake  and  the 
long  chain  of  hills  near  the  monastery  of  Palazzuolo  one  still 
sees  the  rock  cut  steep  down  toward  the  lake,  evidently  the 
work  of  man,  which  rendered  it  impossible  to  attack  the  city  on 
that  side ;  the  summit  on  the  other  side  formed  the  arx.  That 
the  Albans  were  in  possession  of  the  sovereignty  of  Latium  is 
a  tradition  which  we  may  believe  to  be  founded  on  good  author- 
ity, as  it  is  traced  to  Cincius.  Afterward  the  Latins  became 
the  masters  of  the  district  and  temple  of  Jupiter.  Further,  the 
statement  that  Alba  shared  the  flesh  of  the  victim  on  the  Alban 
mount  with  the  thirty  towns,  and  that  after  the  fall  of  Alba  the 
Latins  chose  their  own  magistrates,  are  glimpses  of  real  history. 
The  ancient  tunnel  made  for  discharging  the  water  of  the  Alban 
Lake  still  exists,  and  through  its  vault  a  canal  was  made  called 
Fossa  Cluilia :  this  vault,  which  is  still  visible,  is  a  work  of  ear- 
lier construction  than  any  Roman  one.  But  all  that  can  be  said 
of  Alba  and  the  Latins  at  that  time  is,  that  Alba  was  the  capi- 
tal, exercising  the  sovereignty  over  Latium ;  that  Its  temple  of 
Jupiter  was  the  rallying  point  of  the  people  who  were  governed 
by  it ;  and  that  the  gens  Silvia  was  the  ruling  clan. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  number  of  Latin  towns  was 
actually  thirty,  just  that  of  the  Albensian  demi ;  this  number 
afterward  occurs  again  in  the  later  thirty  Latin  towns  and  in 
the  thirty  Roman  tribes,  and  it  is  moreover  indicated  by  the 
story  of  the  foundation  of  Lavinium  by  thirty  families,  in  which 
we  may  recognize  the  union  of  the  two  tribes.  The  statement 


ii8  THE  FOUNDATION   OF   ROME 

that  Lavinium  was  a  Trojan  colony  and  was  afterward  aban- 
doned, but  restored  by  Alba,  and  further  that  the  sanctuary 
could  not  be  transferred  from  it  to  Alba,  is  only  an  accommo- 
dation to  the  Trojan  and  native  tradition,  however  much  it  may 
bear  the  appearance  of  antiquity.  For  Lavinium  is  nothing 
else  than  a  general  name  for  Latium,  just  as  Panionium  is  for 
Ionia,  Latinus,  Lavinus,  and  Lavicus  being  one  and  the  same 
name,  as  is  recognized  even  by  Servius.  Lavinium  was  the 
central  point  of  the  Prisci  Latini,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  in 
the  early  period  before  Alba  ruled  over  Lavinium,  worship  was 
offered  mutually  at  Alba  and  at  Lavinium,  as  was  afterward  the 
case  at  Rome  in  the  temple  of  Diana  on  the  Aventine,  and  at 
the  festivals  of  the  Romans  and  Latins  on  the  Alban  mount. 

The  personages  of  the  Trojan  legend  therefore  present 
themselves  to  us  in  the  following  light.  Turnus  is  nothing  else 
but  Turinus,  in  Dionysius  7y/3/tyv«y ;  Lavinia,  the  fair  maiden,  is 
the  name  of  the  Latin  people,  which  may  perhaps  be  so  distin- 
guished that  the  inhabitants  of  the  coast  were  called  Tyrrhe- 
nians, and  those  further  inland  Latins.  Since,  after  the  battle 
of  Lake  Regillus,  the  Latins  are  mentioned  in  the  treaty  with 
Rome  as  forming  thirty  towns,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
towns,  over  which  Alba  had  the  supremacy  in  the  earliest 
times,  were  likewise  thirty  in  number ;  but  the  confederacy  did 
not  at  all  times  contain  the  same  towns,  as  some  may  af  terward 
have  perished  and  others  may  have  been  added.  In  such  politi- 
cal developments  there  is  at  work  an  instinctive  tendency  to 
fill  up  that  which  has  become  vacant;  and  this  instinct  acts  as 
long  as  people  proceed  unconsciously  according  to  the  ancient 
forms  and  not  in  accordance  with  actual  wants.  Such  also  was 
the  case  in  the  twelve  Achaean  towns  and  in  the  seven  Frisian 
maritime  communities ;  for  as  soon  as  one  disappeared,  another, 
dividing  itself  into  two,  supplied  its  place.  Wherever  there  is 
a  fixed  number,  it  is  kept  up,  even  when  one  part  dies  away, 
and  it  ever  continues  to  be  renewed.  We  may  add  that  the 
state  of  the  Latins  lost  in  the  West,  but  gained  in  the  East. 
We  must  therefore,  I  repeat  it,  conceive  on  the  one  hand  Alba 
with  its  thirty  demi,  and  on  the  other  the  thirty  Latin  towns, 
the  latter  at  first  forming  a  state  allied  with  Alba,  and  at  a  later 
time  under  its  supremacy. 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF  ROME  119 

According  to  an  important  statement  of  Cato  preserved  in 
Dionysius,  the  ancient  towns  of  the  Aborigines  were  small 
places  scattered  over  the  mountains.  One  town  of  this  kind 
was  situated  on  the  Palatine  hill,  and  bore  the  name  of  Roma, 
which  is  most  certainly  Greek.  Not  far  from  it  there  occur 
several  other  places  with  Greek  names,  such  as  Pyrgi  and  Al- 
sium ;  for  the  people  inhabiting  those  districts  were  closely  akin 
to  the  Greeks;  and  it  is  by  no  means  an  erroneous  conjecture, 
that  Terracina  was  formerly  called  Tpa^etvij)  or  the  "  rough  place 
on  a  rock  " ;  Formiae  must  be  connected  with  #/>/*o9,  "  a  road- 
stead" or  "place  for  casting  anchor."  As  certain  as  Pyrgi 
signifies  "  towers,"  so  certainly  does  Roma  signify  "  strength," 
and  I  believe  that  those  are  quite  right  who  consider  that  the 
name  Roma  in  this  sense  is  not  accidental.  This  Roma  is  de- 
scribed as  a  Pelasgian  place  in  which  Evander,  the  introducer 
of  scientific  culture,  resided.  According  to  tradition,  the  first 
foundation  of  civilization  was  laid  by  Saturn,  in  the  golden  age 
of  mankind.  The  tradition  in  Vergil,  who  was  extremely  learned 
in  matters  of  antiquity,  that  the  first  men  were  created  out  of 
trees,  must  be  taken  quite  literally ;  for  as  in  Greece  the  ju'VA"?*6? 
were  metamorphosed  into  the  Myrmidons,  and  the  stones 
thrown  by  Deucalion  and  Pyrrha  into  men  and  women,  so  in 
Italy  trees,  by  some  divine  power,  were  changed  into  human 
beings.  These  beings,  at  first  only  half  human,  gradually  ac- 
quired a  civilization  which  they  owed  to  Saturn ;  but  the  real 
intellectual  culture  was  traced  to  Evander,  who  must  not  be 
regarded  as  a  person  who  had  come  from  Arcadia,  but  as  the 
good  man,  as  the  teacher  of  the  alphabet  and  of  mental  culture, 
which  man  gradually  works  out  for  himself. 

The  Romans  clung  to  the  conviction  that  Romulus,  the 
founder  of  Rome,  was  the  son  of  a  virgin  by  a  god,  that  his  life 
was  marvellously  preserved,  that  he  was  saved  from  the  floods 
of  the  river  and  was  reared  by  a  she-wolf.  That  this  poetry  is 
very  ancient  cannot  be  doubted ;  but  did  the  legend  at  all  times 
describe  Romulus  as  the  son  of  Rea  Silvia  or  Ilia  ?  Perizonius 
was  the  first  who  remarked  against  Ryccius  that  Rea  Ilia  never 
occurs  together,  and  that  Rea  Silvia  was  a  daughter  of  Numi- 
tor,  while  Ilia  is  called  a  daughter  of  vEneas.  He  is  perfectly 
right :  Naevius  and  Ennius  called  Romulus  a  son  of  Ilia,  the 


120  THE  FOUNDATION   OF  ROME 

daughter  of  JEneas,  as  is  attested  by  Servius  on  Vergil  and 
Porphyrio  on  Horace ;  but  it  cannot  be  hence  inferred  that  this 
was  the  national  opinion  of  the  Romans  themselves,  for  the 
poets  who  were  familiar  with  the  Greeks  might  accommodate 
their  stories  to  Greek  poems.  The  ancient  Romans,  on  the 
other  hand,  could  not  possibly  look  upon  the  mother  of  the 
founder  of  their  city  as  a  daughter  of  JEneas,  who  was  believed 
to  have  lived  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  or  three  hundred 
and  sixty  years  earlier.  Dionysius  says  that  his  account,  which 
is  that  of  Fabius,  occurred  in  the  sacred  songs,  and  it  is  in  itself 
perfectly  consistent.  Fabius  cannot  have  taken  it,  as  Plutarch 
asserts,  from  Diocles,  a  miserable  unknown  Greek  author;  the 
statue  of  the  she-wolf  was  erected  in  the  year  A.U.  457,  long 
before  Diocles  wrote,  and  at  least  a  hundred  years  before  Fa- 
bius. This  tradition  therefore  is  certainly  the  more  ancient 
Roman  one ;  and  it  puts  Rome  in  connection  with  Alba.  A 
monument  has  lately  been  discovered  at  Bovillae :  it  is  an  altar 
which  the  Gentiles  Julii  erected  lege  Albana,  and  therefore  ex- 
presses a  religious  relation  of  a  Roman  gens  to  Alba.  The 
connection  of  the  two  towns  continues  down  to  the  founder  of 
Rome ;  and  the  well-known  tradition,  with  its  ancient  poetical 
details,  many  of  which  Livy  and  Dionysius  omitted  from  their 
histories  lest  they  should  seem  to  deal  too  much  in  the  marvel- 
lous, runs  as  follows : 

Numitor  and  Amulius  were  contending  for  the  throne  of 
Alba.  Amulius  took  possession  of  the  throne,  and  made  Rea 
Silvia,  the  daughter  of  Numitor,  a  vestal  virgin,  in  order  that 
the  Silvian  house  might  become  extinct.  This  part  of  the 
story  was  composed  without  any  insight  into  political  laws,  for 
a  daughter  could  not  have  transmitted  any  gentilician  rights. 
The  name  Rea  Silvia  is  ancient,  but  Rea  is  only  a  surname : 
reafemmina  often  occurs  in  Boccaccio,  and  is  used  to  this  day 
in  Tuscany  to  designate  a  woman  whose  reputation  is  blighted ; 
a  priestess  Rea  is  described  by  Vergil  as  having  been  over- 
powered by  Hercules.  While  Rea  was  fetching  water  in  a 
grove  for  a  sacrifice  the  sun  became  eclipsed,  and  she  took  ref- 
uge from  a  wolf  in  a  cave,  where  she  was  overpowered  by  Mars. 
When  she  was  delivered,  the  sun  was  again  eclipsed  and  the 
statue  of  Vesta  covered  its  eyes.  Livy  has  here  abandoned 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME  121 

the  marvellous.  The  tyrant  threw  Rea  with  her  infants  into  the 
river  Anio :  she  lost  her  life  in  the  waves,  but  the  god  of  the 
river  took  her  soul  and  changed  it  into  an  immortal  goddess, 
whom  he  married.  This  story  has  been  softened  down  into  the 
tale  of  her  imprisonment,  which  is  unpoetical  enough  to  be  a 
later  invention.  The  river  Anio  carried  the  cradle,  like  a  boat, 
into  the  Tiber,  and  the  latter  conveyed  it  to  the  foot  of  the 
Palatine,  the  water  having  overflowed  the  country,  and  the 
cradle  was  upset  at  the  root  of  a  fig-tree.  A  she-wolf  carried 
the  babies  away  and  suckled  them ;  Mars  sent  a  woodpecker 
which  provided  the  children  with  food,  and  the  bird  parra  which 
protected  them  from  insects.  These  statements  are  gathered 
from  various  quarters ;  for  the  historians  got  rid  of  the  marvel- 
lous as  much  as  possible.  Faustulus,  the  legend  continues, 
found  the  boys  feeding  on  the  milk  of  the  huge  wild  beast ;  he 
brought  them  up  with  his  twelve  sons,  and  they  became  the 
staunchest  of  all.  Being  at  the  head  of  the  shepherds  on 
Mount  Palatine,  they  became  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  the 
shepherds  of  Numitor  on  the  Aventine — the  Palatine  and  the 
Aventine  are  always  hostile  to  each  other.  Remus  being  taken 
prisoner  was  led  to  Alba,  but  Romulus  rescued  him,  and  their 
descent  from  Numitor  being  discovered,  the  latter  was  restored 
to  the  throne,  and  the  two  young  men  obtained  permission  to 
form  a  settlement  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Palatine  where  they  had 
been  saved. 

Out  of  this  beautiful  poem  the  falsifiers  endeavored  to  make 
some  credible  story:  even  the  unprejudiced  and  poetical  Livy 
tried  to  avoid  the  most  marvellous  points  as  much  as  he  could, 
but  the  falsifiers  went  a  step  farther.  In  the  days  when  men 
had  altogether  ceased  to  believe  in  the  ancient  gods,  attempts 
were  made  to  find  something  intelligible  in  the  old  legends,  and 
thus  a  history  was  made  up,  which  Plutarch  fondly  embraced 
and  Dionysiusdid  not  reject,  though  he  also  relates  the  ancient 
tradition  in  a  mutilated  form.  He  says  that  many  people  be- 
lieve in  demons,  and  that  such  a  demon  might  have  been  the 
father  of  Romulus ;  but  he  himself  is  very  far  from  believing 
it,  and  rather  thinks  that  Amulius  himself,  in  disguise,  violated 
Rea  Silvia  amid  thunder  and  lightning  produced  by  artifice. 
This  he  is  said  to  have  done  in  order  to  have  a  pretext  for  get- 


122  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME 

ting  rid  of  her,  but  being  entreated  by  his  daughter  not  to 
drown  her,  he  imprisoned  her  for  life.  The  children  were 
saved  by  the  shepherd  who  was  commissioned  to  expose  them, 
at  the  request  of  Numitor,and  two  other  boys  were  put  in  their 
place.  Numitor's  grandsons  were  taken  to  a  friend  at  Gabii, 
who  caused  them  to  be  educated  according  to  their  rank,  and 
to  be  instructed  in  Greek  literature.  Attempts  have  actually 
been  made  to  introduce  this  stupid  forgery  into  history,  and 
some  portions  of  it  have  been  adopted  in  the  narrative  of  our 
historians ;  for  example,  that  the  ancient  Alban  nobility  mi- 
grated with  the  two  brothers  to  Rome ;  but  if  this  had  been  the 
case  there  would  have  been  no  need  of  opening  an  asylum,  nor 
would  it  have  been  necessary  to  obtain  by  force  the  connubium 
with  other  nations. 

But  of  more  historical  importance  is  the  difference  of  opin- 
ion between  the  two  brothers  respecting  the  building  of  the 
city  and  its  site.  According  to  the  ancient  tradition,  both  were 
kings  and  the  equal  heads  of  the  colony ;  Romulus  is  universally 
said  to  have  wished  to  build  on  the  Palatine,  while  Remus,  ac- 
cording to  some,  preferred  the  Aventine ;  according  to  others, 
the  hill  Remuria.  Plutarch  states  that  the  latter  is  a  hill  three 
miles  south  of  Rome,  and  cannot  have  been  any  other  than  the 
hill  nearly  opposite  St.  Paul,  which  is  the  more  credible,  since 
this  hill,  though  situated  in  an  otherwise  unhealthy  district,  has 
an  extremely  fine  air :  a  very  important  point  in  investigations 
respecting  the  ancient  Latin  towns,  for  it  may  be  taken  for  cer- 
tain that  where  the  air  is  now  healthy  it  was  so  in  those  times 
also,  and  that  where  it  is  now  decidedly  unhealthy,  it  was  an- 
ciently no  better.  The  legend  now  goes  on  to  say  that  a  dis- 
pute arose  between  Romulus  and  Remus  as  to  which  of  them 
should  give  the  name  to  the  town,  and  also  as  to  where  it  was 
to  be  built.  A  town  Remuria  therefore  undoubtedly  existed 
on  that  hill,  though  subsequently  we  find  the  name  transferred 
to  the  Aventine,  as  is  the  case  so  frequently.  According  to 
the  common  tradition,  the  auguries  were  to  decide  between  the 
brothers :  Romulus  took  his  stand  on  the  Palatine,  Remus  on 
the  Aventine.  The  latter  observed  the  whole  night,  but  saw 
nothing  until  about  sunrise,  when  he  saw  six  vultures  flying 
from  north  to  south,  and  tent  word  of  it  to  Romulus ;  but  at 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF   ROME  123 

that  very  time  the  latter,  annoyed  at  not  having  seen  any  sign, 
fraudulently  sent  a  messenger  to  say  that  he  had  seen  twelve 
vultures,  and  at  the  very  moment  the  messenger  arrived  there 
did  appear  twelve  vultures,  to  which  Romulus  appealed.  This 
account  is  impossible ;  for  the  Palatine  and  Aventine  are  so 
near  each  other  that,  as  every  Roman  well  knew,  whatever  a 
person  on  one  of  the  two  hills  saw  high  in  the  air,  could  not 
escape  the  observation  of  any  one  who  was  watching  on  the 
other.  This  part  of  the  story  therefore  cannot  be  ancient,  and 
can  be  saved  only  by  substituting  the  Remuria  for  the  Aven- 
tine. As  the  Palatine  was  the  seat  of  the  noblest  patrician 
tribe,  and  the  Aventine  the  special  town  of  the  plebeians,  there 
existed  between  the  two  a  perpetual  feud,  and  thus  it  came  to 
pass  that  in  after  times  the  story  relating  to  the  Remuria,  which 
was  far  away  from  the  city,  was  transferred  to  the  Aventine. 
According  to  Ennius,  Romulus  made  his  observations  on  the 
Aventine ;  in  this  case  Remus  must  certainly  have  been  on  the 
Remuria,  and  it  is  said  that  when  Romulus  obtained  the  augury 
he  threw  his  spear  toward  the  Palatine.  This  is  the  ancient 
legend  which  was  neglected  by  the  later  writers.  Romulus 
took  possession  of  the  Palatine.  The  spear  taking  root  and 
becoming  a  tree,  which  existed  down  to  the  time  of  Nero,  is  a 
symbol  of  the  eternity  of  the  new  city,  and  of  the  protection  of 
the  gods.  The  statement  that  Romulus  tried  to  deceive  his 
brother  is  a  later  addition ;  and  the  beautiful  poem  of  Ennius, 
quoted  by  Cicero,  knows  nothing  of  this  circumstance.  The 
conclusion  which  must  be  drawn  from  all  this  is,  that  in  the 
earliest  times  there  were  two  towns,  Roma  and  Remuria,  the 
latter  being  far  distant  from  the  city  and  from  the  Palatine. 

Romulus  now  fixed  the  boundary  of  his  town,  but  Remus 
scornfully  leaped  across  the  ditch,  for  which  he  was  slain  by 
Celer,  a  hint  that  no  one  should  cross  the  fortifications  of 
Rome  with  impunity.  But  Romulus  fell  into  a  state  of  melan- 
choly occasioned  by  the  death  of  Remus ;  he  instituted  festivals 
to  honor  him,  and  ordered  an  empty  throne  to  be  put  up  by  the 
side  of  his  own.  Thus  we  have  a  double  kingdom,  which  ends 
with  the  defeat  of  Remuria. 

The  question  now  is,  What  were  these  two  towns  of  Roma 
and  Remuria?  They  were  evidently  Pelasgian  places:  th<? 


124  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME 

ancient  tradition  states  that  Sicelus  migrated  from  Rome 
southward  to  the  Pelasgians,  that  is,  the  Tyrrhenian  Pelasgians 
were  pushed  forward  to  the  Morgetes,  a  kindred  nation  in  Lu- 
cania  and  in  Sicily.  Among  the  Greeks  it  was,  as  Dionysius 
states,  a  general  opinion  that  Rome  was  a  Pelasgian,  that  is,  a 
Tyrrhenian  city,  but  the  authorities  from  whom  he  learned  this 
are  no  longer  extant.  There  is,  however,  a  fragment  in  which 
it  is  stated  that  Rome  was  a  sister  city  of  Antium  and  Ardea ; 
here  too  we  must  apply  the  statement  from  the  chronicle  of 
Cumae,  that  Evander,  who,  as  an  Arcadian,  was  likewise  a 
Pelasgian,  had  his  palatium  on  the  Palatine.  To  us  he  appears 
of  less  importance  than  in  the  legend,  for  in  the  latter  he  is  one 
of  the  benefactors  of  nations,  and  introduced  among  the  Pelas- 
gians in  Italy  the  use  of  the  alphabet  and  other  arts,  just  as 
Damaratus  did  among  the  Tyrrhenians  in  Etruria.  In  this 
sense,  therefore,  Rome  was  certainly  a  Latin  town,  and  had 
not  a  mixed  but  a  purely  Tyrrheno-Pelasgian  population.  The 
subsequent  vicissitudes  of  this  settlement  may  be  gathered  from 
the  allegories. 

Romulus  now  found  the  number  of  his  fellow-settlers  too 
small ;  the  number  of  three  thousand  foot  and  three  hundred 
horse,  which  Livy  gives  from  the  commentaries  of  the  pontiffs, 
is  worth  nothing;  for  it  is  only  an  outline  of  the  later  military 
arrangement  transferred  to  the  earliest  times.  According  to 
the  ancient  tradition,  Romulus' s  band  was  too  small,  and  he 
opened  an  asylum  on  the  Capitoline  hill.  This  asylum,  the  old 
description  states,  contained  only  a  very  small  space,  a  proof 
how  little  these  things  were  understood  historically.  All  man- 
ner of  people,  thieves,  murderers,  and  vagabonds  of  every  kind, 
flocked  thither.  This  is  the  simple  view  taken  of  the  origin  of 
the  clients.  In  the  bitterness  with  which  the  estates  subse- 
quently looked  upon  one  another,  it  was  made  a  matter  of  re- 
proach to  the  Patricians  that  their  earliest  ancestors  had  been 
vagabonds;  though  it  was  a  common  opinion  that  the  Pa- 
tricians were  descended  from  the  free  companions  of  Romulus, 
and  that  those  who  took  refuge  in  the  asylum  placed  them- 
selves  as  clients  under  the  protection  of  the  real  free  citizens. 
But  now  they  wanted  women,  and  attempts  were  made  to  ob- 
tain the  connubium  with  neighboring  towns,  especially  perhaps 


were 


too  we 


others — 


he 


ally  p 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME  125 

with  Anteranae,  which  was  only  four  miles  distant  from  Rome, 
with  the  Sabines  and  others.  This  being  refused  Romulus 
had  recourse  to  a  stratagem,  proclaiming  that  he  had  discovered 
the  altar  of  Census,  the  god  of  counsels,  an  allegory  of  his  cun- 
ning in  general.  In  the  midst  of  the  solemnities,  the  Sabine 
maidens,  thirty  in  number,  were  carried  off,  from  whom  the 
curia  received  their  names :  this  is  the  genuine  ancient  legend, 
and  it  proves  how  small  ancient  Rome  was  conceived  to  have 
been.  In  later  times  the  number  was  thought  too  small ;  it  was 
supposed  that  these  thirty  had  been  chosen  by  lot  for  the  pur- 
pose of  naming  the  curia  after  them;  and  Valerius  Antias 
fixed  the  number  of  the  women  who  had  been  carried  off  at  five 
hundred  and  twenty-seven.  The  rape  is  placed  in  the  fourth 
month  of  the  city,  because  the  consuaha  fall  in  August,  and  the 
festival  commemorating  the  foundation  of  the  city  in  April; 
later  writers,  as  Cn.  Gellius,  extended  this  period  to  four  years, 
and  Dionysius  found  this  of  course  far  more  credible.  From 
this  rape  there  arose  wars,  first  with  the  neighboring  towns, 
which  were  defeated  one  after  another,  and  at  last  with  the 
Sabines.  The  ancient  legend  contains  not  a  trace  of  this  war 
having  been  of  long  continuance ;  but  in  later  times  it  was  nec- 
essarily supposed  to  have  lasted  for  a  considerable  time,  since 
matters  were  then  measured  by  a  different  standard.  Lucumo 
and  Caelius  came  to  the  assistance  of  Romulus,  an  allusion  to 
the  expedition  of  Caeles  Vibenna,  which  however  belongs  to  a 
much  later  period.  The  Sabine  king,  Tatius,  was  induced  by 
treachery  to  settle  on  the  hill  which  is  called  the  Tarpeian  arx. 
Between  the  Palatine  and  the  Tarpeian  rock  a  battle  was 
fought,  in  which  neither  party  gained  a  decisive  victory,  until 
the  Sabine  women  threw  themselves  between  the  combatants, 
who  agreed  that  henceforth  the  sovereignty  should  be  divided 
between  the  Romans  and  the  Sabines.  According  to  the 
annals,  this  happened  in  the  fourth  year  of  Rome. 

But  this  arrangement  lasted  only  a  short  time ;  Tatius  was 
slain  during  a  sacrifice  at  Lavinium,  and  his  vacant  throne  was 
not  filled  up.  During  their  common  reign,  each  king  had  a 
senate  of  one  hundred  members,  and  the  two  senates,  after  con- 
sulting separately,  used  to  meet,  and  this  was  called  comitium. 
Romulus  during  the  remainder  of  his  life  ruled  alone;  the 


126  THE  FOUNDATION   OF   ROME 

ancient  legend  knows  nothing  of  his  having  been  a  tyrant :  ac- 
cording to  Ennius  he  continued,  on  the  contrary,  to  be  a  mild 
and  benevolent  king,  while  Tatius  was  a  tyrant.  The  ancient 
tradition  contained  nothing  beyond  the  beginning  and  the  end 
of  the  reign  of  Romulus ;  all  that  lies  between  these  points,  the 
war  with  the  Veientines,  Fidenates,  and  so  on,  is  a  foolish  in- 
vention of  later  annalists.  The  poem  itself  is  beautiful,  but  this 
inserted  narrative  is  highly  absurd,  as  for  example  the  state- 
ment that  Romulus  slew  ten  thousand  Veientines  with  his  own 
hand.  The  ancient  poem  passed  on  at  once  to  the  time  when 
Romulus  had  completed  his  earthly  career,  and  Jupiter  fulfilled 
his  promise  to  Mars,  that  Romulus  was  the  only  man  whom  he 
would  introduce  among  the  gods.  According  to  this  ancient 
legend,  the  king  was  reviewing  his  army  near  the  marsh  of 
Caprae,  when,  as  at  the  moment  of  his  conception,  there  oc- 
curred an  eclipse  of  the  sun  and  at  the  same  time  a  hurricane, 
during  which  Mars  descended  in  a  fiery  chariot  and  took  his 
son  up  to  heaven.  Out  of  this  beautiful  poem  the  most 
wretched  stories  have  been  manufactured :  Romulus,  it  is  said, 
while  in  the  midst  of  his  senators  was  knocked  down,  cut  into 
pieces,  and  thus  carried  away  by  them  under  their  togas.  This 
stupid  story  was  generally  adopted,  and  that  a  cause  for  so  hor- 
rible a  deed  might  not  be  wanting,  it  was  related  that  in  his 
latter  years  Romulus  had  become  a  tyrant,  and  that  the  sena- 
tors took  revenge  by  murdering  him. 

After  the  death  of  Romulus,  the  Romans  and  the  people  of 
Tatius  quarrelled  for  a  long  time  with  each  other,  the  Sabines 
wishing  that  one  of  their  nation  should  be  raised  to  the  throne, 
while  the  Romans  claimed  that  the  new  king  should  be  chosen 
from  among  them.  At  length  they  agreed,  it  is  said,  that  the 
one  nation  should  choose  a  king  from  the  other. 

We  have  now  reached  the  point  at  which  it  is  necessary  to 
speak  of  the  relation  between  the  two  nations,  such  as  it  act- 
ually existed. 

All  the  nations  of  antiquity  lived  in  fixed  forms,  and  their 
civil  relations  were  always  marked  by  various  divisions  and 
subdivisions.  When  cities  raise  themselves  to  the  rank  of  na- 
tions,^ we  always  find  a  division  at  first  into  tribes ;  Herodotus 
mentions  such  tribes  in  the  colonization  of  Gyrene,  and  the 


same  was  afterward  the  case  at  the  foundation  of  Thurii ;  but 
when  a  place  existed  anywhere  as  a  distinct  township,  its  na- 
ture was  characterized  by  the  fact  of  its  citizens  being  at  a  cer- 
tain time  divided  into  gentes  (jivr^t  each  of  which  had  a  com- 
mon chapel  and  a  common  hero.  These  gentes  were  united 
in  definite  numerical  proportions  into  curies  (ypdrpat).  The 
gentes  are  not  families,  but  free  corporations,  sometimes  close 
and  sometimes  open;  in  certain  cases  the  whole  body  of  the 
state  might  assign  to  them  new  associates ;  the  great  council  at 
Venice  was  a  close  body,  and  no  one  could  be  admitted  whose 
ancestors  had  not  been  in  it,  and  such  also  was  the  case  in  many 
oligarchical  states  of  antiquity. 

All  civil  communities  had  a  council  and  an  assembly  of 
burghers,  that  is,  a  small  and  a  great  council;  the  burghers  con- 
sisted of  the  guilds  or  gentes,  and  these  again  were  united,  as  it 
were,  in  parishes ;  all  the  Latin  towns  had  a  council  of  one  hun- 
dred members,  who  were  divided  into  ten  curies ;  this  division 
gave  rise  to  the  name  of  decuriones,  which  remained  in  use  as 
a  title  of  civic  magistrates  down  to  the  latest  times,  and  through 
the  lex  Julia  was  transferred  to  the  constitution  of  the  Italian 
municipia.  That  this  council  consisted  of  one  hundred  persons 
has  been  proved  by  Savigny,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  history 
of  the  Roman  law.  This  constitution  continued  to  exist  till  a 
late  period  of  the  middle  ages,  but  perished  when  the  institu- 
tion of  guilds  took  the  place  of  municipal  constitutions.  Gio- 
vanni Villani  says,  that  previously  to  the  revolution  in  the 
twelfth  century  there  were  at  Florence  one  hundred  buoni 
nomini,  who  had  the  administration  of  the  city.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  German  cities  which  answers  to  this  constitution. 
We  must  not  conceive  those  hundred  to  have  been  nobles ;  they 
were  an  assembly  of  burghers  and  country  people,  as  was  the 
case  in  our  small  imperial  cities,  or  as  in  the  small  cantons  of 
Switzerland.  Each  of  them  represented  a  gens ;  and  they  are 
those  whom  Propertius  calls  patres  pelliti.  The  curia  of  Rome, 
a  cottage  covered  with  straw,  was  a  faithful  memorial  of  the 
times  when  Rome  stood  buried  in  the  night  of  history,  as  a 
small  country  town  surrounded  by  its  little  domain. 

The  most  ancient  occurrence  which  we  can  discover  from 
the  form  of  the  allegory,  by  a  comparison  of  what  happened  in 


128  THE  FOUNDATION   OF  ROME 

other  parts  of  Italy,  is  a  result  of  the  great  and  continued  com- 
motion  among  the  nations  of  Italy.  It  did  not  terminate  when 
the  Oscans  had  been  pressed  forward  from  Lake  Fucinus  to  the 
lake  of  Alba,  but  continued  much  longer.  The  Sabines  may 
have  rested  for  a  time,  but  they  advanced  far  beyond  the  dis- 
tricts about  which  we  have  any  traditions.  These  Sabines  be- 
gan as  a  very  small  tribe,  but  afterward  became  one  of  the 
greatest  nations  of  Italy,  for  the  Marrucinians,  Caudines,  Ves- 
tinians,  Marsians,  Pelignians,  and  in  short  all  the  Samnite 
tribes,  the  Lucanians,  the  Oscan  part  of  the  Bruttians,  the 
Picentians,  and  several  others  were  all  descended  from  the  Sa- 
bine  stock,  and  yet  there  are  no  traditions  about  their  settle- 
ments except  in  a  few  cases.  At  the  time  to  which  we  must 
refer  the  foundation  of  Rome,  the  Sabines  were  widely  diffused. 
It  is  said  that,  guided  by  a  bull,  they  penetrated  into  Opica,  and 
thus  occupied  the  country  of  the  Samnites.  It  was  perhaps  at 
an  earlier  time  that  they  migrated  down  the  Tiber,  whence  we 
there  find  Sabine  towns  mixed  with  Latin  ones ;  some  of  their 
places  also  existed  on  the  Anio.  The  country  afterward  in- 
habited by  the  Sabines  was  probably  not  occupied  by  them  till 
a  later  period,  for  Falerii  is  a  Tuscan  town,  and  its  population 
was  certainly  at  one  time  thoroughly  Tyrrhenian. 

As  the  Sabines  advanced,  some  Latin  towns  maintained 
their  independence,  others  were  subdued ;  Fidenae  belonged  to 
the  former,  but  north  of  it  all  the  country  was  Sabine.  Now 
by  the  side  of  the  ancient  Roma  we  find  a  Sabine  town  on  the 
Quirinal  and  Capitoline  close  to  the  Latin  town ;  but  its  exist- 
ence is  all  that  we  know  about  it.  A  tradition  states  that 
there  previously  existed  on  the  Capitoline  a  Siculian  town  of 
the  name  of  Saturnia,  which,  in  this  case,  must  have  been  con- 
quered by  the  Sabines.  But  whatever  we  may  think  of  this, 
as  well  as  of  the  existence  of  another  ancient  town  on  the 
Janiculum,  it  is  certain  that  there  were  a  number  of  small 
towns  in  that  district.  The  two  towns  could  exist  perfectly 
well  side  by  side,  as  there  was  a  deep  marsh  between  them. 

The  town  on  the  Palatine  may  for  a.  long  time  have  been  in 
a  state  of  dependence  on  the  Sabine  conqueror  whom  tradition 
calls  Titus  Tatius ;  hence  he  was  slain  during  the  Laurentine 
sacrifice,  and  hence  also  his  memory  was  hateful.  The  exist- 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME  129 

ence  of  a  Sabine  town  on  the  Quirinal  is  attested  by  the  un- 
doubted occurrence  there  of  a  number  of  Sabine  chapels,  which 
were  known  as  late  as  the  time  of  Varro,  and  from  which  he 
proved  that  the  Sabine  ritual  was  adopted  by  the  Romans. 
This  Sabine  element  in  the  worship  of  the  Romans  has  almost 
always  been  overlooked,  in  consequence  of  the  prevailing  desire 
to  look  upon  everything  as  Etruscan ;  but,  I  repeat,  there  is  no 
doubt  of  the  Sabine  settlement,  and  that  it  was  the  result  of  a 
great  commotion  among  the  tribes  of  middle  Italy. 

The  tradition  that  the  Sabine  women  were  carried  off  be- 
cause there  existed  no  connubium,  and  that  the  rape  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  war,  is  undoubtedly  a  symbolical  representation  of 
the  relation  between  the  two  towns,  previous  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  right  of  intermarriage;  the  Sabineshad  the  ascend- 
ancy and  refused  that  right,  but  the  Romans  gained  it  by  force 
of  arms.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Sabines  were  origi- 
nally the  ruling  people,  but  that  in  some  insurrection  of  the 
Romans  various  Sabine  places,  such  as  Antemnas,  Fidenae, 
and  others,  were  subdued,  and  thus  these  Sabines  were  sepa- 
rated from  their  kinsmen.  The  Romans,  therefore,  reestab- 
lished their  independence  by  a  war,  the  result  of  which  may 
have  been  such  as  we  read  it  in  the  tradition — Romulus  being, 
of  course,  set  aside — namely,  that  both  places  as  two  closely 
united  towns  formed  a  kind  of  confederacy,  each  with  a  senate 
of  one  hundred  members,  a  king,  an  offensive  and  defensive 
alliance,  and  on  the  understanding  that  in  common  delibera- 
tions the  burghers  of  each  should  meet  together  in  the  space 
between  the  two  towns  which  was  afterward  called  the  comitium. 
In  this  manner  they  formed  a  united  state  in  regard  to  foreign 
nations. 

The  idea  of  a  double  state  was  not  unknown  to  the  ancient 
writers  themselves,  although  the  indications  of  it  are  preserved 
only  in  scattered  passages,  especially  in  the  scholiasts.  The 
head  of  Janus,  which  in  the  earliest  times  was  represented  on 
the  Roman  as,  is  the  symbol  of  it,  as  has  been  correctly  ob- 
served by  writers  on  Roman  antiquities.  The  vacant  throne 
by  the  side  of  the  curule  chair  of  Romulus  points  to  the  time 
when  there  was  only  one  king,  and  represents  the  equal  but 
quiescent  right  of  the  other  people. 
E.,  VOL.  i. — 9 


<3°  THE  FOUNDATION   OF   ROME 

That  concord  was  not  of  long  duration  is  an  historical  fact 
likewise ;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  Roman  king  assumed 
the  supremacy  over  the  Sabines,  and  that  in  consequence  the 
two  councils  were  united  so  as  to  form  one  senate  under  one 
king,  it  being  agreed  that  the  king  should  be  alternately  a 
Roman  and  a  Sabine,  and  that  each  time  he  should  be  chosen 
by  the  other  people :  the  king,  however,  if  displeasing  to  the 
non-electing  people,  was  not  to  be  forced  upon  them,  but  was 
to  be  invested  with  the  imperium  only  on  condition  of  the  augu- 
ries being  favorable  to  him,  and  of  his  being  sanctioned  by  the 
whole  nation.  The  non-electing  tribe  accordingly  had  the  right 
of  either  sanctioning  or  rejecting  his  election.  In  the  case  of 
Numa  this  is  related  as  a  fact,  but  it  is  only  a  disguisement  of 
the  right  derived  from  the  ritual  books.  In  this  manner  the 
strange  double  election,  which  is  otherwise  so  mysterious  and 
was  formerly  completely  misunderstood,  becomes  quite  intel- 
ligible. One  portion  of  the  nation  elected  and  the  other  sanc- 
tioned ;  it  being  intended  that,  for  example,  the  Romans  should 
not  elect  from  among  the  Sabines  a  king  devoted  exclusively  to 
their  own  interests,  but  one  who  was  at  the  same  time  accept- 
able to  the  Sabines. 

When,  perhaps  after  several  generations  of  a  separate  exist- 
ence, the  two  states  became  united,  the  towns  ceased  to  be 
towns,  and  the  collective  body  of  the  burghers  of  each  became 
tribes,  so  that  the  nation  consisted  of  two  tribes.  The  form  of 
addressing  the  Roman  people  was  from  the  earliest  times  Popu- 
lus  Romanics  Quirites,  which,  when  its  origin  was  forgotten, 
was  changed  into  Populus  Romanus  Quiritium,  just  as  Us 
vindicia  was  afterward  changed  into  Us  vindiciarum.  This 
change  is  more  ancient  than  Livy ;  the  correct  expression  still 
continued  to  be  used,  but  was  to  a  great  extent  supplanted  by 
the  false  one.  The  ancient  tradition  relates  that  after  the 
union  of  the  two  tribes  the  name  Quirites  was  adopted  as  the 
common  designation  for  the  whole  people ;  but  this  is  errone- 
ous, for  the  name  was  not  used  in  this  sense  till  a  very  late 
period.  This  designation  remained  in  use  and  was  transferred 
to  the  plebeians  at  a  time  when  the  distinction  between  Romans 
and  Sabines,  between  these  two  and  the  Luceres,  nay,  when 
even  that  between  patricians  and  plebeians  had  almost  ceased 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF   ROME  131 

to  be  noticed.  Thus  the  two  towns  stood  side  by  side  as  tribes 
forming  one  state,  and  it  is  merely  a  recognition  of  the  ancient 
tradition  when  we  call  the  Latins  Ramnes,  and  the  Sabines 
Tities  ;  that  the  derivation  of  these  appellations  from  Romulus 
and  T.  Tatius  is  incorrect  is  no  argument  against  the  view  here 
taken. 

Dionysius,  who  had  good  materials  and  made  use  of  a  great 
many,  must,  as  far  as  the  consular  period  is  concerned,  have 
had  more  than  he  gives ;  there  is  in  particular  one  important 
change  in  the  constitution,  concerning  which  he  has  only  a  few 
words,  either  because  he  did  not  see  clearly  or  because  he  was 
careless.  But  as  regards  the  kingly  period,  he  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  his  subject;  he  says  that  there  was  a  dispute 
between  the  two  tribes  respecting  the  senates,  and  that  Numa 
settled  it  by  not  depriving  the  Ramnes,  as  the  first  tribe,  of 
anything,  and  by  conferring  honors  on  the  Tities.  This  is  per- 
fectly clear.  The  senate,  which  had  at  first  consisted  of  one 
hundred  and  now  two  hundred  members,  was  divided  into  ten 
decunes,  each  being  headed  by  one,  who  was  its  leader ;  these 
are  the  decem  primi,  and  they  were  taken  from  the  Ramnes. 
They  formed  the  college,  which,  when  there  was  no  king,  un- 
dertook the  government,  one  after  another,  each  for  five  days, 
but  in  such  a  manner  that  they  always  succeeded  one  another 
in  the  same  order,  as  we  must  believe  with  Livy,  for  Dionysius 
here  introduces  his  Greek  notions  of  the  Attic  prytanes,  and 
Plutarch  misunderstands  the  matter  altogether. 

After  the  example  of  the  senate  the  number  of  the  augurs 
and  pontiffs  also  was  doubled,  so  that  each  college  consisted  of 
four  members,  two  being  taken  from  the  Ramnes  and  two  from 
the  Tities.  Although  it  is  not  possible  to  fix  these  changes 
chronologically,  as  Dionysius  and  Cicero  do,  yet  they  are  as 
historically  certain  as  if  we  actually  knew  the  kings  who  intro- 
duced them. 

Such  was  Rome  in  the  second  stage  of  its  development. 
This  period  of  equalization  is  one  of  peace,  and  is  described  as 
the  reign  of  Numa,  about  whom  the  traditions  are  simple  and 
brief.  It  is  the  picture  of  a  peaceful  condition  with  a  holy  man 
at  the  head  of  affairs,  like  Nicolas  von  der  Flue  in  Switzerland. 
Numa  was  supposed  to  have  been  inspired  by  the  goddess 


I32  THE  FOUNDATION   OF  ROME 

Egeria,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  the  grove  of  the  Camenae, 
and  who  introduced  him  into  the  choir  of  her  sisters;  she 
melted  away  in  tears  at  his  death,  and  thus  gave  her  name  to 
the  spring  which  arose  out  of  her  tears.  Such  a  peace  of  forty 
years,  during  which  no  nation  rose  against  Rome,  because  Nu- 
ma's  piety  was  communicated  to  the  surrounding  nations,  is  a 
beautiful  idea,  but  historically  impossible  in  those  times,  and 
manifestly  a  poetical  fiction. 

The  death  of  Numa  forms  the  conclusion  of  the  first  SCECU- 
lum,  and  an  entirely  new  period  follows,  just  as  in  the  Theogony 
of  Hesiod  the  age  of  heroes  is  followed  by  the  iron  age ;  there 
is  evidently  a  change,  and  an  entirely  new  order  of  things  is 
conceived  to  have  arisen.  Up  to  this  point  we  have  had  noth- 
ing except  poetry,  but  with  Tullus  Hostilius  a  kind  of  history 
begins,  that  is,  events  are  related  which  must  be  taken  in  gen- 
eral as  historical,  though  in  the  light  in  which  they  are  pre- 
sented to  us  they  are  not  historical  Thus,  for  example,  the 
destruction  of  Alba  is  historical,  and  so  in  all  probability  is  the 
reception  of  the  Albans  at  Rome.  The  conquests  of  Ancus 
Martius  are  quite  credible ;  and  they  appear  like  an  oasis  of  real 
history  in  the  midst  of  fables.  A  similar  case  occurs  once  in 
the  chronicle  of  Cologne.  In  the  Abyssinian  annals,  we  fmd 
in  the  thirteenth  century  a  very  minute  account  of  one  particu- 
lar event,  in  which  we  recognize  a  piece  of  contemporaneous 
history,  though  we  meet  with  nothing  historical  either  before 
or  after. 

The  history  which  then  follows  is  like  a  picture  viewed  from 
the  wrong  side,  like  phantasmata;  the  names  of  the  kings  are 
perfectly  fictitious ;  no  man  can  tell  how  long  the  Roman  kings 
reigned,  as  we  do  not  know  how  many  there  were,  since  it  is 
only  for  the  sake  of  the  number  that  seven  were  supposed  to 
have  ruled,  seven  being  a  number  which  appears  in  many  rela- 
tions, especially  in  important  astronomical  ones.  Hence  the 
chronological  statements  are  utterly  worthless.  We  must  con- 
ceive as  a  succession  of  centuries  the  period  from  the  origin  of 
Rome  down  to  the  times  wherein  were  constructed  the  enor- 
mous works,  such  as  the  great  drains,  the  wall  of  Servius,  and 
others,  which  were  actually  executed  under  the  kings  and  rival 
the  great  architectural  works  of  the  Egyptians.  Romulus  and 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF  ROME  133 

Numa  must  be  entirely  set  aside ;  but  a  long  period  follows,  in 
which  the  nations  gradually  unite  and  develop  themselves  until 
the  kingly  government  disappears  and  makes  way  for  repub- 
lican institutions. 

But  it  is  nevertheless  necessary  to  relate  the  history,  such 
as  it  has  been  handed  down,  because  much  depends  upon  it. 
There  was  not  the  slightest  connection  between  Rome  and 
Alba,  nor  is  it  even  mentioned  by  the  historians,  though  they 
suppose  that  Rome  received  its  first  inhabitants  from  Alba; 
but  in  the  reign  of  Tullus  Hostilius  the  two  cities  on  a  sudden 
appear  as  enemies :  each  of  the  two  nations  seeks  war,  and  tries 
to  allure  fortune  by  representing  itself  as  the  injured  party, 
each  wishing  to  declare  war.  Both  sent  ambassadors  to  de- 
mand reparation  for  robberies  which  had  been  committed.  The 
form  of  procedure  was  this:  the  ambassadors,  that  is  the 
Fetiales,  related  the  grievances  of  their  city  to  every  person 
they  met,  they  then  proclaimed  them  in  the  market-place  of  the 
other  city,  and  if,  after  the  expiration  of  thrice  ten  days  no  repa- 
ration was  made,  they  said,  "  We  have  done  enough  and  now 
return,"  whereupon  the  elders  at  home  held  counsel  as  to  how 
they  should  obtain  redress.  In  this  formula  accordingly  the  res, 
that  is,  the  surrender  of  the  guilty  and  the  restoration  of  the 
stolen  property,  must  have  been  demanded.  Now  it  is  related 
that  the  two  nations  sent  such  ambassadors  quite  simultaneously, 
but  that  Tullus  Hostilius  retained  the  Alban  ambassadors, 
until  he  was  certain  that  the  Romans  at  Alba  had  not  obtained 
the  justice  due  to  them,  and  had  therefore  declared  war.  After 
this  he  admitted  the  ambassadors  into  the  senate,  and  the  reply 
made  to  their  complaint  was,  that  they  themselves  had  not  sat- 
isfied the  demands  of  the  Romans.  Livy  then  continues :  bel- 
lum  in  trigesimum  diem  dixerant.  But  the  real  formula  is, 
post  trigesimum  diem,  and  we  may  ask,  Why  did  Livy  or  the 
annalist  whom  he  followed  make  this  alteration  ?  For  an  ob- 
vious reason :  a  person  may  ride  from  Rome  to  Alba  in  a  couple 
of  hours,  so  that  the  detention  of  the  Alban  ambassadors  at 
Rome  for  thirty  days,  without  their  hearing  what  was  going  on 
in  the  mean  time  at  Alba,  was  a  matter  of  impossibility.  Livy 
saw  this,  and  therefore  altered  the  formula.  But  the  ancient 
poet  was  not  concerned  about  such  things,  and  without  hesita- 


134  THE   FOUNDATION   OF   ROME 

tk>n  increased  the  distance  in  his  imagination,  and  represented 
Rome  and  Alba  as  great  states. 

The  whole  description  of  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
fate  of  Alba  was  decided  is  just  as  manifestly  poetical,  but  we 
shall  dwell  upon  it  for  a  while  in  order  to  show  how  a  semblance 
of  history  may  arise.  Between  Rome  and  Alba  there  was  a 
ditch,  Fossa  Cluilia  or  Cloelia,  and  there  must  have  been  a 
tradition  that  the  Albans  had  been  encamped  there ;  Livy  and 
Dionysius  mention  that  Cluilius,  a  general  of  the  Albans,  had 
given  the  ditch  its  name,  having  perished  there.  It  was  neces- 
sary to  mention  the  latter  circumstance,  in  order  to  explain  the 
fact  that  afterward  their  general  was  a  different  person,  Met- 
tius  Fuffetius,  and  yet  to  be  able  to  connect  the  name  of  that 
ditch  with  the  Albans.  The  two  states  committed  the  decision 
of  their  dispute  to  champions,  and  Dionysius  says  that  tradition 
did  not  agree  as  to  whether  the  name  of  the  Roman  champions 
was  Horatii  or  Curiatii,  although  he  himself,  as  well  as  Livy, 
assumes  that  it  was  Horatii,  probably  because  it  was  thus 
stated  by  the  majority  of  the  annalists.  Who  would  suspect 
any  uncertainty  here  if  it  were  not  for  this  passage  of  Dio- 
nysius ?  The  contest  of  the  three  brothers  on  each  side  is  a 
symbolical  indication  that  each  of  the  two  states  was  then 
divided  into  three  tribes.  Attempts  have  indeed  been  made  to 
deny  that  the  three  men  were  brothers  of  the  same  birth,  and 
thus  to  remove  the  improbability ;  but  the  legend  went  even 
further,  representing  the  three  brothers  on  each  side  as  the  sons 
of  two  sisters,  and  as  born  on  the  same  day.  This  contains  the 
suggestion  of  a  perfect  equality  between  Rome  and  Alba. 
The  contest  ended  in  the  complete  submission  of  Alba ;  it  did 
not  remain  faithful,  however,  and  in  the  ensuing  struggle  with 
the  Etruscans,  Mettius  Fuffetius  acted  the  part  of  a  traitor  to- 
ward Rome,  but  not  being  able  to  carry  his  design  into  effect, 
he  afterward  fell  upon  the  fugitive  Etruscans.  Tullus  ordered 
him  to  be  torn  to  pieces  and  Alba  to  be  razed  to  the  ground, 
the  noblest  Alban  families  being  transplanted  to  Rome.  The 
death  of  Tullus  is  no  less  poetical.  Like  Numa  he  undertook 
to  call  down  lightning  from  heaven,  but  he  thereby  destroyed 
himself  and  his  house. 

If  we  endeavor  to  discover  the  historical  substance  of  these 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  ROME  135 

legends,  we  at  once  find  ourselves  in  a  period  when  Rome  no 
longer  stood  alone,  but  had  colonies  with  Roman  settlers,  pos- 
sessing a  third  of  the  territory  and  exercising  sovereign  power 
over  the  original  inhabitants.  This  was  the  case  in  a  small 
number  of  towns,  for  the  most  part  of  ancient  Siculian  origin. 
It  is  an  undoubted  fact  that  Alba  was  destroyed,  and  that  after 
this  event  the  towns  of  the  Prisci  Latini  formed  an  indepen- 
dent and  compact  confederacy ;  but  whether  Alba  fell  in  the 
manner  described,  whether  it  was  ever  compelled  to  recognize 
the  supremacy  of  Rome,  and  whether  it  was  destroyed  by  the 
Romans  and  Latins  conjointly,  or  by  the  Romans  or  Latins 
alone,  are  questions  which  no  human  ingenuity  can  solve.  It 
is,  however,  most  probable  that  the  destruction  of  Alba  was  the 
work  of  the  Latins,  who  rose  against  her  supremacy :  whether 
in  this  case  the  Romans  received  the  Albans  among  themselves, 
and  thus  became  their  benefactors  instead  of  destroyers,  must 
ever  remain  a  matter  of  uncertainty.  That  Alban  families  were 
transplanted  to  Rome  cannot  be  doubted,  any  more  than  that 
the  Prisci  Latini  from  that  time  constituted  a  compact  state ; 
if  we  consider  that  Alba  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  Latin 
districts,  that  the  Alban  mount  was  their  common  sanctuary, 
and  that  the  grove  of  Ferentina  was  the  place  of  assembly  for 
all  the  Latins,  it  must  appear  more  probable  that  Rome  did  not 
destroy  Alba,  but  that  it  perished  in  an  insurrection  of  the 
Latin  towns,  and  that  the  Romans  strengthened  themselves  by 
receiving  the  Albans  into  their  city. 

Whether  the  Albans  were  the  first  that  settled  on  the 
Caelian  hill,  or  whether  it  was  previously  occupied,  cannot  be 
decided.  The  account  which  places  the  foundation  of  the  town 
on  the  Caelius  in  the  reign  of  Romulus  suggests  that  a  town 
existed  there  before  the  reception  of  the  Albans;  but  what  is 
the  authenticity  of  this  account  ?  A  third  tradition  represents 
it  as  an  Etruscan  settlement  of  Caeles  Vibenna.  This  much  is 
certain,  that  the  destruction  of  Alba  greatly  contributed  to  in- 
crease the  power  of  Rome.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a 
third  town,  which  seems  to  have  been  very  populous,  now  ex- 
isted on  the  Caelius  and  on  a  portion  of  the  Esquiliae :  such  a 
settlement  close  to  other  towns  was  made  for  the  sake  of  mu- 
tual protection.  Between  the  two  more  ancient  towns  there 


I36  THE  FOUNDATION   OF  ROME 

continued  to  be  a  marsh  or  swamp,  and  Rome  was  protected  on 
the  south  by  stagnant  water ;  but  between  Rome  and  the  third 
town  there  was  a  dry  plain.  Rome  also  had  a  considerable 
suburb  toward  the  Aventine,  protected  by  a  wall  and  a  ditch, 
as  is  implied  in  the  story  of  Remus.  He  is  a  personification  of 
the  plebs,  leaping  across  the  ditch  from  the  side  of  the  Aven- 
tine, though  we  ought  to  be  very  cautious  in  regard  to  allegory. 
The  most  ancient  town  on  the  Palatine  was  Rome ;  the 
Sabine  town  also  must  have  had  a  name,  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that,  according  to  common  analogy,  it  was  Quirium,  the  name 
of  its  citizens  being  Quirites.  This  I  look  upon  as  certain.  I 
have  almost  as  little  doubt  that  the  town  on  the  Caelian  was 
called  Lucerum,  because  when  it  was  united  with  Rome,  its 
citizens  were  called,  Lucertes  (Luceres).  The  ancients  derive 
this  name  from  Lucumo,  king  of  the  Tuscans,  or  from  Lucerus, 
king  of  Ardea ;  the  latter  derivation  probably  meaning  that  the 
race  was  Tyrrheno-Latin,  because  Ardea  was  the  capital  of  that 
race.  Rome  was  thus  enlarged  by  a  third  element,  which,  how- 
ever, did  not  stand  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  the  two  others, 
but  was  in  a  state  of  dependence  similar  to  that  of  Ireland  rela- 
tively to  Great  Britain  down  to  the  year  1782.  But  although 
the  Luceres  were  obliged  to  recognize  the  supremacy  of  the  two 
older  tribes,  they  were  considered  as  an  integral  part  of  the 
whole  state,  that  is,  as  a  third  tribe  with  an  administration  of 
its  own,  but  inferior  rights.  What  throws  light  upon  our  way 
here  is  a  passage  of  Festus,  who  is  a  great  authority  on  matters 
of  Roman  antiquity,  because  he  made  his  excerpts  from  Verrius 
Flaccus;  it  is  only  in  a  few  points  that,  in  my  opinion,  either  of 
them  was  mistaken ;  all  the  rest  of  the  mistakes  in  Festus  may 
be  accounted  for  by  the  imperfection  of  the  abridgment,  Festus 
not  always  understanding  Verrius  Flaccus.  The  statement  of 
Festus  to  which  I  here  allude  is  that  Tarquinius  Superbus  in- 
creased the  number  of  the  Vestals  in  order  that  each  tribe 
might  have  two.  With  this  we  must  connect  a  passage  from 
the  tenth  book  of  Livy,  where  he  says  that  the  augurs  were  to 
represent  the  three  tribes.  The  numbers  in  the  Roman  col- 
leges of  priests  were  always  multiples  either  of  two  or  of 
three ;  the  latter  was  the  case  with  the  Vestal  Virgins  and  the 
great  Flamines,  and  the  former  with  the  Augurs,  Pontiffs,  and 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF   ROME  137 

Fetiales,  who  represented  only  the  first  two  tribes.  Previously 
to  the  passing  of  the  Ogulnian  law  the  number  of  augurs  was 
four,  and  when  subsequently  five  plebeians  were  added,  the 
basis  of  this  increase  was  different,  it  is  true,  but  the  ancient 
rule  of  the  number  being  a  multiple  of  three  was  preserved. 
The  number  of  pontiffs,  which  was  then  four,  was  increased 
only  by  four :  this  might  seem  to  contradict  what  has  just  been 
stated,  but  it  has  been  overlooked  that  Cicero  speaks  of  five 
new  ones  having  been  added,  for  he  included  the  Pontifex 
Maximus,  which  Livy  does  not.  In  like  manner  there  were 
twenty  Fetiales,  ten  for  each  tribe.  To  the  Salii  on  the  Pala- 
tine Numa  added  another  brotherhood  on  the  Quirinal ;  thus 
we  everywhere  see  a  manifest  distinction  between  the  first  two 
tribes  and  the  third,  the  latter  being  treated  as  inferior. 

The  third  tribe,  then,  consisted  of  free  citizens,  but  they 
had  not  the  same  rights  as  the  members  of  the  first  two;  yet 
its  members  considered  themselves  superior  to  all  other  people; 
and  their  relation  to  the  other  two  tribes  was  the  same  as  that 
existing  between  the  Venetian  citizens  of  the  mainland  and  the 
nobili.  A  Venetian  nobleman  treated  those  citizens  with  far 
more  condescension  than  he  displayed  toward  others,  provided 
they  did  not  presume  to  exercise  any  authority  in  political  mat- 
ters. Whoever  belonged  to  the  Luceres  called  himself  a  Roman, 
and  if  the  very  dictator  of  Tusculum  had  come  to  Rome,  a  man 
of  the  third  tribe  there  would  have  looked  upon  him  as  an  infe- 
rior person,  though  he  himself  had  no  influence  whatever. 

Tullus  was  succeeded  by  Ancus.  Tullus  appears  as  one  of 
the  Ramnes,  and  as  descended  from  Hostus  Hostilius,  one  of 
the  companions  of  Romulus ;  but  Ancus  was  a  Sabine,  a  grand- 
son of  Numa.  The  accounts  about  him  are  to  some  extent  his- 
torical, and  there  is  no  trace  of  poetry  in  them.  In  his  reign, 
the  development  of  the  state  again  made  a  step  in  advance. 
According  to  the  ancient  tradition,  Rome  was  at  war  with  the 
Latin  towns,  and  carried  it  on  successfully.  How  many  of  the 
particular  events  which  are  recorded  may  be  historical  I  am 
unable  to  say;  but  that  there  was  a  war  is  credible  enough. 
Ancus,  it  is  said,  carried  away  after  this  war  many  thousands 
of  Latins,  and  gave  them  settlements  on  the  Aventine.  The 
ancients  express  various  opinions  about  him ;  sometimes  he  is 


I38  THE   FOUNDATION   OF   ROME 

described  as  a  captator  aur<z popularis  ;  sometimes  he  is  called 
bonus  Ancus.  Like  the  first  three  kings,  he  is  said  to  have  been 
a  legislator,  a  fact  which  is  not  mentioned  in  reference  to  the 
later  kings.  He  is  moreover  stated  to  have  established  the 
colony  of  Ostia,  and  thus  his  kingdom  must  have  extended  as 
far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber. 

Ancus  and  Tullus  seem  to  me  to  be  historical  personages ; 
but  we  can  scarcely  suppose  that  the  latter  was  succeeded  by 
the  former,  and  that  the  events  assigned  to  their  reigns  actually 
occurred  in  them.  These  events  must  be  conceived  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner:  Toward  the  end  of  the  fourth  reign,  when, 
after  a  feud  which  lasted  many  years,  the  Romans  came  to  an 
understanding  with  the  Latins  about  the  renewal  of  the  long- 
neglected  alliance,  Rome  gave  up  its  claims  to  the  supremacy 
which  it  could  not  maintain,  and  indemnified  itself  by  extending 
its  dominion  in  another  and  safer  direction.  The  eastern  colo- 
nies joined  the  Latin  towns  which  still  existed :  this  is  evident, 
though  it  is  nowhere  expressly  mentioned ;  and  a  portion  of  the 
Latin  country  was  ceded  to  Rome,  with  which  the  rest  of  the 
Latins  formed  a  connection  of  friendship,  perhaps  of  isopolity. 
Rome  here  acted  as  wisely  as  England  did  when  she  recognized 
the  independence  of  North  America. 

In  this  manner  Rome  obtained  a  territory.  The  many 
thousand  settlers  whom  Ancus  is  said  to  have  led  to  the  Aven- 
tine  were  the  population  of  the  Latin  towns  which  became  sub- 
ject to  Rome,  and  they  were  far  more  numerous  than  the  two 
ancient  tribes,  even  after  the  latter  had  been  increased  by  their 
union  with  the  third  tribe.  In  these  country  districts  lay  the 
power  of  Rome,  and  from  them  she  raised  the  armies  with 
which  she  carried  on  her  wars.  It  would  have  been  natural  to 
admit  this  population  as  a  fourth  tribe,  but  such  a  measure  was 
not  agreeable  to  the  Romans :  the  constitution  of  the  state  was 
completed  and  was  looked  upon  as  a  sacred  trust  in  which  no 
change  ought  to  be  introduced.  It  was  with  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  as  it  was  with  our  own  ancestors,  whose  separate  tribes 
clung  to  their  hereditary  laws,  and  differed  from  one  another  in 
this  respect  as  much  as  they  did  from  the  Gauls  in  the  color  of 
their  eyes  and  hair.  They  knew  well  enough  that  it  was  in  their 
power  to  alter  the  laws,  but  they  considered  them  as  something 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF  ROME  139 

which  ought  not  to  be  altered.  Thus  when  the  emperor  Otho 
was  doubtful  on  a  point  of  the  law  of  inheritance,  he  caused  the 
case  to  be  decided  by  an  ordeal  or  judgment  of  God.  In  Sicily, 
one  city  had  Chalcidian,  another  Doric  laws,  although  their 
populations,  as  well  as  their  dialects,  were  greatly  mixed ;  but 
the  leaders  of  those  colonies  had  been  Chalcidians  in  the  one 
case  and  Dorians  in  the  others.  The  Chalcidians,  moreover, 
were  divided  into  four,  the  Dorians  into  three  tribes,  and  their 
differences  in  these  respects  were  manifested  even  in  their 
weights  and  measures.  The  division  into  three  tribes  was  a 
genuine  Latin  institution ;  and  there  are  reasons  which  render 
it  probable  that  the  Sabines  had  a  division  of  their  states  into 
four  tribes.  The  transportation  of  the  Latins  to  Rome  must 
be  regarded  as  the  origin  of  \h&plebs 


PRINCE  JIMMU  FOUNDS  JAPAN'S  CAPITAL 

B.C.  660 

SIR  EDWARD   REED  THE  "NEHONGI" 

Prince  Jimmu  is  the  founder  of  the  Empire  of  Japan,  according  to 
Japanese  tradition.  The  whole  of  his  history  is  overlaid  with  myth  and 
legend.  But  it  points  to  the  immigration  of  western  Asiatics  by  way  of 
Corea  into  the  Japanese  islands  of  Izumo  and  Kyushu. 

The  historical  records  of  the  Japanese  relate  that  Jimmu,  accompa- 
nied by  an  elder  brother,  Prince  Itsuse,  started  from  their  grandfather's 
palace  on  Mount  Takaclicho.  They  marched  with  a  large  number  of 
followers,  a  horde  of  men,  women,  and  children,  as  well  as  a  band  of 
armed  men.  On  landing  in  Japan,  after  many  years  wandering  by  sea 
and  land,  they  had  serious  conflicts  with  the  native  tribes.  They  eventu- 
ally succeeded  in  overcoming  all  opposition  and  in  conquering  the  coun- 
try, so  that  Prince  Jimmu  was  enabled  to  build  a  palace  and  set  up  a 
capital,  Kashiha-bara,  in  Yamato.  This  prince  is  regarded  by  Japanese 
historians  as  the  founder  of  the  Japanese  Empire.  He  is  said  to  have 
reigned  seventy-five  years  after  his  accession,  and  to  have  died  at  the 
age  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  years,  and  his  burial  place  is 
pointed  out  on  the  northern  side  of  Mount  Unebi,  in  the  province  of 
Yamato. 

Prince  Jimmu,  or  whoever  was  the  foreign  ruler  who  conquered  and 
founded  an  empire  in  Japan,  must  have  been  a  bold,  enterprising,  and 
sagacious  man.  The  islands  he  subdued  were  barbarous,  and  he  civil- 
ized them  ;  the  inhabitants  were  warlike  and  cruel,  and  he  kept  them  in 
peace.  He  founded  a  dynasty  which  extended  its  dominion  over  Nagato, 
Izumo,  and  Owari,  and  still  has  representatives  in  rulers  whose  people 
are  by  far  the  most  progressive  dwellers  in  the  East. 

That  part  of  the  following  historical  matter,  which  is  translated  from 
the  old  Japanese  chronicle,  the  Nehongi,  is  marked  by  local  color  and  by 
Oriental  characteristics,  whereby  it  curiously  contrasts  with  the  plain 
recitals  of  modern  and  Western  history. 


SIR   EDWARD   REED 


T 


HERE  are  endless  varying  legends  about  this  god-period 
of  Japan.  All  that  we  need  now  say  in  the  way  of  reciting 
the  legends  of  the  gods  has  relation  to  the  descent  of  the 
mikados  of  Japan  from  the  deities. 

140 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S    CAPITAL          141 

It  was  the  misconduct  of  Susanoo  that  drove  the  sun-god- 
dess into  the  cave  and  for  this  misconduct  he  was  banished. 
Some  say  that,  instead  of  proceeding  to  his  place  of  banishment, 
he  descended,  with  his  son  Idakiso  no  Mikoto,  upon  Shiraga  (in 
Corea),  but  not  liking  the  place  went  back  by  a  vessel  to  the 
bank  of  the  Hinokawa  River,  in  Idzumo,  Japan. 

At  the  time  of  their  descent,  Idakiso  had  many  plants  or 
seeds  of  trees  with  him,  but  he  planted  none  in  Shiraga,  but 
took  them  across  with  him,  and  scattered  them  from  Kuishiu 
all  over  Japan,  so  that  the  whole  country  became  green  with 
trees.  It  is  said  that  Idakiso  is  respected  as  the  god  of  merit, 
and  is  worshipped  in  Kinokuni.  His  two  sisters  also  took  care 
of  the  plantation.  One  of  the  gods  who  reigned  over  the  coun- 
try in  the  prehistoric  period  was  Ohonamuchi,  who  is  said  by 
some  to  be  the  son  of  Susanoo,  and  by  others  to  be  one  of  his 
later  descendants ;  "  And  which  is  right,  it  is  more  than  we  can 
say,"  remarked  one  of  my  scholarly  friends. 

However,  during  his  reign  he  was  anxious  about  the  people, 
and,  consulting  •  with  Sukuna  no  Mikoto,  applied  "  his  whole 
heart,"  we  are  told,  to  their  good  government,  and  they  all 
became  loyal  to  him.  One  time  he  said  to  his  friend  just 
named,  "Do  you  think  we  are  governing  the  people  well?" 
And  his  friend  answered :  "  In  some  respects  well,  and  in  some 
not,"  so  that  they  were  frank  and  honest  with  each  other  in 
those  days. 

When  Sukunahikona  went  away,  Ohonamuchi  said :  "  It  is 
I  who  should  govern  this  country.  Is  there  any  who  will  assist 
me  ? "  Then  there  appeared  over  the  sea  a  divine  light,  and 
there  came  a  god  floating  and  floating,  and  said :  "  You  cannot 
govern  the  country  without  me."  And  this  proved  to  be  the 
god  Ohomiwa  no  Kami,  who  built  a  palace  at  Mimuro,  in 
Yamato,  and  dwelt  therein.  He  affords  a  direct  link  with  the 
Mikado  family,  for  his  daughter  became  the  empress  of  the  first 
historic  emperor  Jimmu.  Her  name  was  Humetatara  Izudsu- 
hime. 

All  the  descendants  of  her  father  are  named,  like  him, 
Ohomiwa  no  Kami,  and  it  is  said  that  the  present  empress  of 
Japan  is  probably  a  descendant  of  this  god.  As  regards  the 
descent  of  the  Emperor  Jimmu  himself  we  already  know  that 


I42          FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S    CAPITAL 

Ninigi  no  Mikoto,  "  the  sovran  grandchild  "  of  the  sun-god- 
dess, was  sent  down  with  the  sacred  symbols  of  empire  given 
to  him  in  the  sun  by  the  sun-goddess  herself  before  he  started 
for  the  earth.  Now  Ninigi  married  (reader,  forgive  me  for 
quoting  the  lady's  name  and  her  father's)  Konohaneno-sakuya- 
hime,  the  daughter  of  Ohoyamazumino-Kami,  and  the  pair  had 
three  sons,  of  whom  the  last  named  Howori  no  Mikoto  suc- 
ceeded to  the  throne.  He  is  sometimes  called  by  the  following 
simple — and  possibly  endearing — name :  Amatsuhitakahi  Koho- 
ho-demi  no  Mikoto. 

He  married  Toyatama-hime,  the  daughter  of  the  sea-god, 
and  they  had  a  son,  Ugaya-fuki-ayedsu  no  Mikoto,  born,  it  is 
said,  under  an  unfinished  roof  of  cormorants'  wings,  who  suc- 
ceeded the  father,  and  who  married  Tamayori-hime,  also  a 
daughter  of  the  sea-god.  This  illustrious  couple  had  four  sons, 
of  whom  the  last  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  the  year  B.C.  660. 
He  was  named  Kamuyamatoi  warehiko  no  Mikoto,  but  poster- 
ity has  fortunately  simplified  his  designation  to  the  now  familiar 
Jimmu-Tenno,  the  first  historic  Emperor  of  Japan,  and  the 
ancestor  of  the  present  emperor. 

The  histories  of  Japan,  prepared  under  the  sanction  of  the 
present  Japanese  government,  date  the  commencement  of  the 
historic  period  from  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  the  first 
emperor,  Jimmu-Tenno,  who  is  said  to  have  ruled  for  seventy- 
six  years,  viz.,  from  B.C.  660  to  585.  Some  persons  consider 
that  this  reign,  and  a  few  reigns  that  succeeded  it,  probably  or 
possibly  belong  to  the  legendary  period,  because  while,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  Emperor  Jimmu  is  described  as  the  founder  of 
the  present  empire  and  the  ancestor  of  the  present  emperor, 
on  the  other,  he  is  described  as  the  fourth  son  of  Ukay 
Fukiaezu  no  Mikoto,  who  was  fifth  in  direct  descent  from  the 
beautiful  sun-goddess,  Tensho-Daijin.  But  as  no  such  thing 
as  writing  existed  in  Japan  in  those  days,  or  for  many  centuries 
afterward,  it  would  not  be  surprising  if  a  real  monarch  should 
have  a  mythical  origin  assigned  to  him ;  and  as  I  have  quite 
lately  heard  the  guns  firing  at  Nagasaki  an  imperial  salute  in 
honor  of  his  coronation,  and  have  seen  the  flags  waving  over 
the  capital  city,  Tokio,  in  honor  of  the  birthday,  the  Emperor 
Jimmu  is  quite  historical  enough  for  my  present  purpose. 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL          143 

The  commencement  of  his  reign  shall  fix  for  us,  as  it  does 
tor  others,  the  Japanese  year  i,  which  was  660  years  prior  to 
our  year  i,  so  that  any  date  of  the  Christian  era  can  be  con- 
verted into  one  of  the  Japanese  era  by  the  addition  of  660 
years,  and  vice-versa.  Some  of  the  emperors  will  be  found  to 
have  lived  very  long  lives,  no  doubt ;  but  as  I  have  said  else- 
where, none  of  them  lived  nearly  so  long  as  our  Adam,  Methu- 
selah, and  others,  in  whose  longevity  so  many  of  us  profess  to 
believe ;  and  besides,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  attempt  to  cor- 
rect a  chronology  which  Japanese  scholars,  and  Englishmen 
versed  in  the  Japanese  language,  have  thus  far  left  without 
specific  correction.  Deferring  for  after  consideration  the  inci- 
dents of  the  successive  imperial  reigns,  except  in  so  far  as  they 
bear  directly  upon  the  descent  of  the  crown,  let  us,  then,  first 
glance  at  the  succession  of  emperors  and  empresses  who  have 
ruled  in  the  Morning  Land. 

After  the  death  of  the  Emperor  Jimmu  there  appears  to 
have  been  an  interregnum  for  three  years — although  it  is  sel- 
dom taken  account  of — the  second  Emperor  Suisei,  who  was 
the  fifth  son  of  the  first  emperor,  having  ascended  the  throne 
B.C.  581  and  reigned,  till  549.  The  cause  of  the  interregnum 
appears  to  have  been  the  extreme  grief  which  Suisei  felt  at  the 
death  of  his  father,  in  consequence  of  which  he  committed  the 
administration  of  the  empire,  for  a  time,  to  one  of  his  relatives 
— an  unworthy  fellow,  as  he  proved,  named  Tagishi  Mimi  no 
Mikoto,  who  tried  to  assassinate  his  master  and  seize  the 
throne  for  himself,  and  who  was  put  to  death  by  Suisei 
for  his  pains.  The  fifth  son  of  the  Emperor  Jimmu  was 
nominated  by  him  as  the  successor,  and  it  is  probable  that 
older  sons  were  living  and  passed  over,  and  that  the  throne 
was  inherited  in  part  by  nomination  even  in  this  its  first 
transfer. 

Some  writers  on  Japanese  history  profess  to  see  in  the  pan- 
theon of  Japan,  pictured  in  the  Kojiki  and  Nihonki,  nothing 
more  than  a  collection  of  distinguished  personages  who  lived 
and  labored  and  contended  in  the  country  before  the  historic 
period,  thus  bringing  deified  men  and  women  down  to  earth 
again.  Such  persons  accept  the  records  of  Jimmu-Tenno's 
origin  as  essentially  accurate  in  so  far  as  they  state  what  is 


144          FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S    CAPITAL 

human  and  reasonable,  rejecting  them  only  when  they  set  forth 
what  is  supernatural,  and,  to  them,  unbelievable. 

Others,  on  the  contrary,  consider,  or  profess  to  consider, 
the  supernatural  portions  of  those  narratives  as  perfectly  trust- 
worthy, and  discredit  only  those  statements  concerning  the 
first  of  the  sacred  emperors  which  would  seem  in  any  way  to 
detract  from  his  divinity.  I  should  be  sorry  to  have  to  argue 
the  case  with  either  of  these  parties,  but  I  must  take  the  liberty 
of  accepting  as  sufficiently  accurate  as  much  of  the  recorded 
lives  of  Jimmu  and  his  successors  as  the  modern  prosaic  his- 
tories in  Japan  are  content  to  put  forth,  and  no  more. 

Proceeding  upon  this  basis,  there  is  not  much  to  be  said  of 
the  reigns  of  the  mikados  who  ruled  before  the  Christian  era, 
beyond  what  has  been  already  stated.  As  regards  the  first 
emperor,  his  ancestor  Ninigi  no  Mikoto — whether  a  god  or 
not,  or  whether  he  came  down  from  the  sun  by  means  of 
"  the  bridge  of  heaven  "  or  not — appears  to  have  established 
his  residence  at  the  ancient  Himuka,  now  Hiuga;  there  it 
was  that  Jimmu-Tenno  first  resided,  and  thence  it  was  that  he 
started  on  his  historic  and  memorable  career.  The  central 
parts  of  Japan  were  militarily  occupied  by  rebels  (whose 
names  are  preserved),  and  it  was  to  subdue  them  that  he  pro- 
ceeded eastward.  He  stopped  for  three  years  at  Taka  Shima, 
constructing  the  necessary  vessels  for  crossing  the  waters,  and 
then,  in  the  course  of  years,  making  his  way  victoriously  as  far 
as  Nanieva,  the  modern  Osaka,  encountered  his  foes  at  Kawa- 
chi,  and  defeated  them,  the  chief  general  being  left  dead  on  the 
battle-field. 

Jimmu  was  now  sole  master  of  Japan,  as  then  known,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  mounted  the  throne.  The  eastern  and 
northern  parts  of  the  country  were,  however,  still,  and  long 
afterwards,  peopled  by  the  Aino  race,  who  were  at  a  later 
period  treated  as  troublesome  savages,  and  conquered  by  a 
famous  prince,  Yamato-Dake,  by  help  of  the  sacred  sword. 
The  spot  selected  by  the  Emperor  Jimmu  for  his  capital  was 
Kashiwabara,  in  the  province  of  Yamato,  not  far  from  the 
present  western  capital  of  Kioto.  He  there  did  honor  to 
the  gods,  married,  built  himself  a  palace,  and  deposited  in  the 
throne-room  the  sacred  mirror,  sword,  and  ball,  the  insignia  of 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL          145 

the  imperial  power  handed  down  from  the  sun-goddess.  He 
organized  two  imperial  guards,  one  as  a  body-guard  to  protect 
the  interior  of  the  palace,  and  the  other  to  act  as  sentinels 
around  the  palace. 

THE  "NEHONGI" 

The  Emperor  Kami  Yamato  Iharebiko's  personal  name  was 
Hikohoho-demi.  He  was  the  fourth  child  of  Hiko-nagisa-take- 
ugaya-fuki-ahezu  no  Mikoto.  His  mother's  name  was  Tama- 
yori-hime,  daughter  of  the  sea-god.  From  his  birth  this  em- 
peror was  of  clear  intelligence  and  resolute  will.  At  the  age  of 
fifteen  he  was  made  heir  to  the  throne.  When  he  grew  up  he 
married  Ahira-tsu-hime,  of  the  district  of  Ata  in  the  province 
of  Hiuga,  and  made  her  his  consort.  By  her  he  had  Tagishi- 
mimi  no  Mikoto  and  Kisu-mimi  no  Mikoto. 

When  he  reached  the  age  of  forty-five,  he  addressed  his 
elder  brothers  and  his  children,  saying :  "  Of  old,  our  heavenly 
deities  Taka-mi-Musubi  no  Mikoto,  and  Oho-hiru-me  no  Mikoto, 
pointing  to  this  land  of  fair  rice-ears  of  the  fertile  reed-plain, 
gave  it  to  our  heavenly  ancestor,  Hiko-ho  no  Ninigi  no  Mikoto. 
Thereupon  Hiko-ho  no  Ninigi  no  Mikoto,  throwing  open  the 
barrier  of  heaven  and  clearing  a  cloud-path,  urged  on  his  super- 
human course  until  he  came  to  rest.  At  this  time  the  world 
was  given  over  to  widespread  desolation.  It  was  an  age  of 
darkness  and  disorder.  In  this  gloom,  therefore,  he  fostered 
justice,  and  so  governed  this  western  border. 

"  Our  imperial  ancestors  and  imperial  parent,  like  gods,  like 
sages,  accumulated  happiness  and  amassed  glory.  Many  years 
elapsed  from  the  date  when  our  heavenly  ancestor  descended 
until  now  it  is  over  1,792,470  years.  But  the  remote  regions 
do  not  yet  enjoy  the  blessings  of  imperial  rule.  Every  town 
has  always  been  allowed  to  have  its  lord,  and  every  village  its 
chief,  who,  each  one  for  himself,  makes  division  of  territory  and 
practises  mutual  aggression  and  conflict. 

"  Now  I  have  heard  from  the  Ancient  of  the  Sea,  that  in  the 
East  there  is  a  fair  land  encircled  on  all  sides  by  blue  moun- 
tains. Moreover,  there  is  there  one  who  flew  down  riding  in  a 
heavenly  rock-boat.  I  think  that  this  land  will  undoubtedly  be 
suitable  for  the  extension  of  the  heavenly  task,  so  that  its 

E.,  VOL.  I. —  'O 


I46          FOUNDING    OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL 

glory  should  fill  the  universe.  It  is  doubtless  the  centre  of 
the  world.  The  person  who  flew  down  was,  I  believe,  Nigi- 
haya-hi.  Why  should  we  not  proceed  thither,  and  make  it  the 
capital  ? " 

All  the  imperial  princes  answered,  and  said :  "  The  truth  of 
this  is  manifest.  This  thought  is  constantly  present  to  our 
minds  also.  Let  us  go  thither  quickly."  This  was  the  year 
Kinoye  Tora  (5ist)  of  the  Great  Year. 

In  that  year,  in  winter,  on  the  Kanoto  Tori  day  (the  5th) 
of  the  loth  month,  the  new  moon  of  which  was  on  the  day 
Hinoto  Mi,  the  emperor  in  person  led  the  imperial  princes  and 
a  naval  force  on  an  expedition  against  the  East.  When  he 
arrived  at  the  Haya-suhi  gate,  there  was  there  a  fisherman  who 
came  riding  in  a  boat.  The  emperor  summoned  him  and  then 
inquired  of  him,  saying:  "Who  art  thou? "  He  answered  and 
said :  "  Thy  servant  is  a  country-god,  and  his  name  is  Utsuhiko. 
I  angle  for  fish  in  the  bays  of  ocean.  Hearing  that  the  son  of 
the  heavenly  deity  was  coming,  therefore  I  forthwith  came  to 
receive  him."  Again  he  inquired  of  him,  saying :  "  Canst  thou 
act  as  my  guide  ? "  He  answered  and  said :  "  I  will  do  so." 
The  emperor  ordered  the  end  of  a  pole  of  Shihi  wood  to  be 
given  to  the  fisher,  and  caused  him  to  be  taken  and  pulled  into 
the  imperial  vessel,  of  which  he  was  made  pilot. 

A  name  was  especially  granted  him,  and  he  was  called 
Shihi-ne-tsu-hiko.  He  was  the  first  ancestor  of  the  Yamato 
no  Atahe. 

Proceeding  on  their  voyage,  they  arrived  at  Usa  in  the  land 
of  Tsukushi.  At  this  time  there  appeared  the  ancestors  of  the 
Kuni-tsu-ko  of  Usa,  named  Usa-tsu-hiko  and  Usa-tsu-hime. 
They  built  a  palace  raised  on  one  pillar  on  the  banks  of  the 
River  Usa,  and  offered  them  a  banquet.  Then,  by  imperial 
command,  Usa-tsu-hime  was  given  in  marriage  to  the  emperor's 
attendant  minister  Ama  notane  no  Mikoto.  Now,  Ama  no- 
tane  no  Mikoto  was  the  remote  ancestor  of  the  Nakatomi  Uji. 

Eleventh  month,  gih  day.  The  emperor  arrived  at  the  har- 
bor of  Oka  in  the  Land  of  Tsukushi. 

Twelfth  month,  2;th  day.  He  arrived  at  the  province  of 
Aki,  where  he  dwelt  in  the  palace  of  Ye. 

The  year  Kinoto  U,  Spring,  3d  month,  6th  day.     Going 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S    CAPITAL          147 

onward,  he  entered  the  land  of  Kibi,  and  built  a  temporary 
palace  in  which  he  dwelt.  It  was  called  the  palace  of  Taka- 
shima.  Three  years  passed,  during  which  time  he  set  in  order 
the  helms  of  his  ships,  and  prepared  a  store  of  provisions.  It 
was  his  desire  by  a  single  effort  to  subdue  the  empire. 

The  year  Tsuchinoye  Muma,  Spring,  2d  month,  nth  day. 
The  imperial  forces  at  length  proceeded  eastward,  the  prow 
of  one  ship  touching  the  stern  of  another.  Just  when  they 
reached  Cape  Naniho  they  encountered  a  current  of  great 
swiftness.  Whereupon  that  place  was  called  Nami-haya  (wave- 
swift)  or  Nami-hana  (wave-flower).  It  is  now  called  Naniha, 
which  is  a  corruption  of  this. 

Third  month,  loth  day.  Proceeding  upwards  against  the 
stream,  they  went  straight  on,  and  arrived  at  the  port  of  Awo- 
Kumo  no  Shira-date,  in  the  township  of  Kusaka,  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Kafuchi. 

Summer,  4th  month,  gth  day.  The  imperial  forces  in  mar- 
tial array  marched  on  to  Tatsuta.  The  road  was  narrow  and 
precipitous,  and  the  men  were  unable  to  march  abreast,  so  they 
returned  and  again  endeavored  to  go  eastward,  crossing  over 
Mount  Ikoma.  In  this  way  they  entered  the  inner  country. 

Now  when  Naga-sune-hiko  heard  this,  he  said :  "The  object 
of  the  children  of  the  heavenly  deity  in  coming  hither  is 
assuredly  to  rob  me  of  my  country."  So  he  straightway  levied 
all  the  forces  under  his  dominion,  and  intercepted  them  at  the 
Hill  of  Kusaka.  A  battle  was  engaged,  and  Itsuse  no  Mikoto 
was  hit  by  a  random  arrow  on  the  elbow.  The  imperial  forces 
were  unable  to  advance  against  the  enemy.  The  emperor  was 
vexed,  and  revolved  in  his  inmost  heart  a  divine  plan,  saying: 
"  I  am  the  descendant  of  the  sun-goddess,  and  if  I  proceed 
against  the  sun  to  attack  the  enemy,  I  shall  act  contrary  to  the 
way  of  heaven.  Better  to  retreat  and  make  a  show  of  weak- 
ness. Then,  sacrificing  to  the  gods  of  heaven  and  earth,  and 
bringing  on  our  backs  the  might  of  the  sun  goddess,  let  us  fol- 
low her  rays  and  trample  them  down.  If  we  do  so,  the  enemy 
will  assuredly  be  routed  of  themselves,  and  we  shall  not  stain 
our  swords  with  blood." 

They  all  said :  "  It  is  good."  Thereupon  he  gave  orders  to 
the  army,  saying:  "\Vait  a  while  and  advance  no  further." 


I48         FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL 

So  he  withdrew  his  forces,  and  the  enemy  also  did  not  dare  to 
attack  him.  He  then  retired  to  the  port  of  Kusaka,  where  he 
set  up  shields,  and  made  a  warlike  show.  Therefore  the  name 
of  this  port  was  changed  to  Tatetsu,  which  is  now  corrupted 
into  Tadetsu. 

Before  this,  at  the  battle  of  Kusaka,  there  was  a  man  who 
hid  in  a  great  tree,  and  by  so  doing  escaped  danger.  So  point- 
ing to  this  tree,  he  said :  "  I  am  grateful  to  it,  as  to  my  mother." 
Therefore  the  people  of  the  day  called  that  place  Omo  no  ki  no 
Mura. 

Fifth  month,  8th  day.  The  army  arrived  at  the  port  of  Ya- 
maki  in  Chinu  (also  called  Port  Yama  no  wi).  Now  Itsuse  no 
Mikoto's  arrow  wound  was  extremely  painful.  He  grasped  his 
sword,  and  striking  a  martial  attitude,  said :  "  How  exasperat- 
ing it  is  that  a  man  should  die  of  a  wound  received  at  the  hands 
of  slaves,  and  should  not  avenge  it !  "  The  people  of  that  day 
therefore  called  the  place  Wo  no  Minoto. 

Proceeding  onward,  they  reached  Mount  Kama  in  the  Land 
of  Kii,  where  Itsuse  no  Mikoto  died  in  the  army,  and  was  there- 
fore buried  at  Mount  Kama. 

Sixth  month,  23d  day.  The  army  arrived  at  the  village  of 
Nagusa,  where  they  put  to  death  the  Tohe  of  Nagusa.  Finally 
they  crossed  the  moor  of  Sano,  and  arrived  at  the  village  of 
Kami  in  Kumano.  Here  he  embarked  in  the  rock-boat  of 
heaven,  and  leading  his  army,  proceeded  onward  by  slow 
degrees.  In  the  midst  of  the  sea,  they  .suddenly  met  with  a 
violent  wind,  and  the  imperial  vessel  was  tossed  about.  Then 
Ina-ihi  no  Mikoto  exclaimed  and  said :  "  Alas !  my  ancestors 
were  heavenly  deities,  and  my  mother  was  a  goddess  of  the 
sea.  Why  do  they  harass  me  by  land,  and  why,  moreover,  do 
they  harass  me  by  sea  ? "  When  he  had  said  this,  he  drew  his 
sword  and  plunged  into  the  sea,  where  he  became  changed  into 
the  god  Sabi-Mochi. 

Mild  In  no  no  Mikoto,  also  indignant  at  this,  said :  "  My 
mother  and  my  aunt  are  both  sea-goddesses;  why  do  they 
raise  great  billows  to  overwhelm  us  ? "  So,  treading  upon  the 
waves,  he  went  to  the  Eternal  Land.  The  emperor  was  now 
alone  with  the  imperial  prince,  Tagishi-Mimi  no  Mikoto.  Lead- 
ing his  army  forward,  he  arrived  at  Port  Arazaka  in  Kumano 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL          149 

(also  called  Nishiki  Bay),  where  he  put  to  death  the  Tohe  of 
Nishiki.  At  this  time  the  gods  belched  up  a  poisonous  vapor, 
from  which  every  one  suffered.  For  this  reason  the  imperial 
army  was  again  unable  to  exert  itself.  Then  there  was  there  a 
man  by  name  Kumano  no  Takakuraji,  who  unexpectedly  had 
a  dream,  in  which  Ama-terasu  no  Ohokami  spoke  to  Take-mika- 
tsuchi  no  Kami,  saying :  "  I  still  hear  a  sound  of  disturbance 
from  the  central  land  of  reed-plains.  Do  thou  again  go  and 
chastise  it." 

Take-mika-tsuchi  no  Kami  answered  and  said :  "  Even  if  I 
go  not  I  can  send  down  my  sword,  with  which  I  subdued  the 
land,  upon  which  the  country  will  of  its  own  accord  become 
peaceful."  To  this  Ama-terasu  no  Kami  assented.  Thereupon 
Take-mika-tsuchi  no  Kami  addressed  Taka  Kuraji,  saying :  "  My 
sword,  which  is  called  Futsu  no  Mitama,  I  will  now  place 
in  the  storehouse.  Do  thou  take  it  and  present  it  to  the 
heavenly  grandchild."  Taka  Kuraji  said,  "Yes,"  and  there- 
upon awoke.  The  next  morning,  as  instructed  in  his  dream, 
he  opened  the  storehouse,  and  on  looking  in,  there  was  indeed 
there  a  sword  which  had  fallen  down  (from  heaven)  and  was 
standing  upside  down  on  the  plank  floor  of  the  storehouse. 
So  he  took  it  and  offered  it  to  the  emperor.  At  this  time  the 
emperor  happened  to  be  asleep.  He  awoke  suddenly,  and  said : 
"  What  a  long  time  I  have  slept. " 

On  inquiry  he  found  that  the  troops  who  had  been  affected 
by  the  poison  had  all  recovered  their  senses  and  were  afoot. 
The  emperor  then  endeavored  to  advance  into  the  interior,  but 
among  the  mountains  it  was  so  precipitous  that  there  was  no 
road  by  which  they  could  travel.  And  they  wandered  about 
not  knowing  whither  to  direct  their  march. 

Then  Ama-terasu  no  Oho-Kami  instructed  the  emperor  in  a 
dream  of  the  night  saying :  "  I  will  now  send  the  Yata-garasu, 
make  it  thy  guide  through  the  land."  Then  there  did  indeed 
appear  the  Yata-garasu  flying  down  from  the  void. 

The  emperor  said:  "The  coming  of  this  crow  is  in  due 
accordance  with  my  auspicous  dream.  How  grand !  How 
splendid!  My  imperial  ancestor  Ama-terasu  no  Oho-Kami, 
desires  therewith  to  assist  me  in  creating  the  hereditary  insti- 
tution." 


150          FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL 

At  this  time  Hi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto,  ancestor  of  the  Oho- 
tomo  House,  taking  with  him  Oho-kume  as  commander  of  the 
main  body,  guided  by  the  direction  taken  by  the  crow,  looked 
up  to  it  and  followed  after,  until  at  length  they  arrived  at  the 
district  of  Lower  Uda.  Therefore  they  named  the  place  which 
they  reached  the  village  of  Ukechi  in  Uda.  At  this  time  by 
an  imperial  order  he  commended  Hi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto,  saying : 
"Thou  art  faithful  and  brave,  and  art  moreover  a  successful 
guide.  Therefore  will  I  give  thee  a  new  name,  and  will  call 
thee  Michi  no  Omi ! " 

Autumn,  8th  month,  2d  day.  The  emperor  sent  to  sum- 
mon Ukeshi  the  elder  and  Ukeshi  the  younger.  These  two 
were  chiefs  of  the  district  of  Uda.  Now  Ukeshi  the  elder  did 
not  come.  But  Ukeshi  the  younger  came,  and  making  obei- 
sance at  the  gate  of  the  camp,  declared  as  follows :  "  Thy  ser- 
vant's elder  brother,  Ukeshi  the  elder,  shows  signs  of  resistance. 
Hearing  that  the  descendant  of  heaven  was  about  to  arrive,  he 
forthwith  raised  an  army  with  which  to  make  an  attack.  But 
having  seen  from  afar  the  might  of  the  imperial  army,  he  was 
afraid,  and  did  not  dare  to  oppose  it.  Therefore  he  has 
secretly  placed  his  troops  in  ambush,  and  has  built  for  the  occa- 
sion a  new  palace,  in  the  hall  of  which  he  has  prepared  engines. 
It  is  his  intention  to  invite  the  emperor  to  a  banquet  there,  and 
then  to  do  him  a  mischief.  I  pray  that  this  treachery  be  noted, 
and  that  good  care  be  taken  to  make  preparation  against  it." 

The  emperor  straightway  sent  Michi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto  to 
observe  the  signs  of  his  opposition.  Michi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto 
clearly  ascertained  his  hostile  intentions,  and  being  greatly 
enraged,  shouted  at  him  in  a  blustering  manner :  "  Wretch ! 
thou  shalt  thyself  dwell  in  the  house  which  thou  hast  made." 
So  grasping  his  sword  and  drawing  his  bow,  he  urged  him  and 
drove  him  within  it.  Ukeshi  the  elder  being  guilty  before 
heaven,  and  the  matter  not  admitting  of  excuse,  of  his  own 
accord  trod  upon  the  engine  and  was  crushed  to  death.  His 
body  was  then  brought  out  and  decapitated,  and  the  blood 
which  flowed  from  it  reached  above  the  ankle.  Therefore  that 
place  was  called  Udan  no  chi-hara.  After  this  Ukeshi  the 
younger  prepared  a  great  feast  of  beef  and  sake,  with  which  he 
entertained  the  imperial  army.  The  emperor  distributed  this 


flesh  and  sake  to  the  common  soldiers,  upon  which  they  sang 
the  following  verses : 

"In  the  high  {  ctarse^e  |  of  Uda 

I  set  a  snare  for  woodcock, 
And  waited, 

But  no  woodcock  came  to  it; 
A  valiant  whale  came  to  it." 


This  is  called  a  Kume  song.  At  the  present  time,  when  the 
department  of  music  performs  this  song,  there  is  still  the  meas- 
urement of  great  and  small  by  the  hand,  as  well  as  a  distinction 
of  coarse  and  fine  in  the  notes  of  the  voice.  This  is  by  a  rule 
handed  down  from  antiquity.  After  this  the  emperor  wished 
to  respect  the  Land  of  Yoshino,  so,  taking  personal  command 
of  the  light  troops,  he  made  a  progress  round  by  way  of  Ukechi 
Mura  in  Uda.  When  he  came  to  Yoshino,  there  was  a  man 
who  came  out  of  a  well.  He  shone  and  had  a  tail.  The 
emperor  inquired  of  him,  saying :  "  What  man  art  thou  ? "  He 
answered  and  said:  "Thy servant  is  a  local  deity,  and  his  name 
is  Wihikari."  He  it  is  who  was  the  first  ancestor  of  the 
Yoshino  no  Obito. 

Proceeding  a  little  further,  there  was  another  man  with  a 
tail,  who  burst  open  a  rock  and  came  forth  from  it.  The 
emperor  inquired  of  him,  saying :  "  What  man  art  thou  ? "  He 
answered  and  said :  "  Thy  servant  is  the  child  of  Iha-oshiwake." 
It  is  he  who  was  the  first  ancestor  of  the  Kuzu  of  Yoshino. 
Then,  skirting  the  river,  he  preceded  westward,  when  there 
appeared  another  man,  who  had  made  a  fishtrap  and  was  catch- 
ing fish.  On  the  emperor  making  inquiry  of  him,  he  answered 
and  said :  "  Thy  servant  is  the  son  of  Nihe-molsu."  He  it  is 
who  was  the  first  ancestor  of  the  U-kahi  of  Ata. 

Ninth  month,  5th  day.  The  emperor  ascended  to  the  peak 
of  Mount  Takakura  in  Uda,  whence  he  had  a  prospect  over  all 
the  land.  On  Kuni-mi  Hill  there  were  descried  eighty  bandits. 

Moreover  at  the  acclivity  of  the  Me-Zaka  there  was  posted 
an  army  of  women,  and  at  the  acclivity  of  Wo-Zaka  there  was 
stationed  a  force  of  men.  At  the  acclivity  of  Sumi-Zaka  was 


152          FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL 

placed  burning  charcoal.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  names 
Me-Zaka,  Wo-Zaka  and  Sumi-Zaka. 

Again  there  was  the  army  of  Ye-Shiki,  which  covered  all 
the  village  of  Ihare.  All  the  places  occupied  by  the  enemy 
were  strong  positions,  and  therefore  the  roads  were  cut  off  and 
obstructed,  so  that  there  was  no  room  for  passage.  The  em- 
peror, indignant  at  this,  made  prayer  on  that  night  in  person, 
and  then  fell  asleep.  The  heavenly  deity  appeared  to  him  in 
a  dream,  and  instructed  him,  saying :  "  Take  earth  from  within 
the  shrine  of  the  heavenly  mount  Kagu,  and  of  it  make  eighty 
heavenly  platters.  Also  make  sacred  jars  and  therewith  sacri- 
fice to  the  gods  of  heaven  and  earth.  Moreover  pronounce  a 
solemn  imprecation.  If  thou  doest  so,  the  enemy  will  render 
submission  of  their  own  accord." 

The  emperor  received  with  reverence  the  directions  given 
in  his  dream,  and  proceeded  to  carry  them  into  execution. 
Now  Ukeshi  the  younger  again  addressed  the  emperor,  saying : 
"There  are  in  the  province  of  Yamato,  in  the  village  of  Shiki, 
eighty  Shiki  bandits.  Moreover  in  the  village  of  Taka-wohari 
(some  say  Katsuraki)  there  are  eighty  Akagane  bandits. 

"  All  these  tribes  intend  to  give  battle  to  the  emperor,  and 
thy  servant  is  anxious  in  his  own  mind  on  his  account.  It  were 
now  good  to  take  clay  from  the  heavenly  mount  Kagu  and 
therewith  to  make  heavenly  platters  with  which  to  sacrifice  to 
the  gods  of  the  heavenly  shrines  and  of  the  earthly  shrines. 
If  after  doing  so  thou  dost  attack  the  enemy,  they  may  be 
easily  driven  off." 

The  emperor,  who  had  already  taken  the  words  of  his  dream 
for  a  good  omen,  when  he  now  heard  the  words  of  Ukeshi  the 
younger,  was  still  more  pleased  in  his  heart.  He  caused  Shihi- 
netsu-hiko  to  put  on  ragged  garments  and  a  grass  hat  and  to 
disguise  himself  as  an  old  man.  He  also  caused  Ukeshi  the 
younger  to  cover  himself  with  a  winnowing  tray,  so  as  to 
assume  the  appearance  of  an  old  woman,  and  then  addressed 
them,  saying:  "Do  ye  two  proceed  to  the  heavenly  mount 
Kagu,  and  secretly  take  earth  from  its  summit.  Having  done 
so,  return  hither.  By  means  of  you  I  shall  then  divine  whether 
my  undertaking  will  be  successful  or  not.  Do  your  utmost 
and  be  watchful."  Now  the  enemy's  army  filled  the  road, 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL          153 

and  made  all  passage  impossible.  Then  Shihi-netsu-hiko 
prayed,  and  said :  "  If  it  will  be  possible  for  our  emperor  to 
conquer  this  land,  let  the  road  by  which  we  must  travel  become 
open.  But  if  not,  let  the  brigands  surely  oppose  our  passage." 

Having  thus  spoken  they  set  forth  and  went  straight 
onward.  Now  the  hostile  band,  seeing  the  two  men,  laughed 
loudly,  and  said :  "  What  an  uncouth  old  man  and  old  woman ! " 
So  with  one  accord  they  left  the  road,  and  allowed  the  two 
men  to  pass  and  proceed  to  the  mountain,  where  they  took  the 
clay  and  returned  with  it.  Hereupon  the  emperor  was  greatly 
pleased,  and  with  this  clay  he  made  eighty  platters,  eighty 
heavenly  small  jars  and  sacred  jars,  with  which  he  went  to  the 
upper  waters  of  the  River  Nifu  and  sacrificed  to  the  gods  of 
heaven  and  earth.  Immediately,  on  the  Asahara  plain  by  the 
river  of  Uda,  it  became  as  it  were  like  foam  on  the  water, 
the  result  of  the  curse  cleaving  to  them.  Moreover  the  em- 
peror went  on  to  utter  a  vow,  saying:  "  I  will  now  make  Ante  in 
the  eighty  platters  without  using  water.  If  the  Ante  is  formed, 
then  shall  I  assuredly  without  effort  and  without  recourse  to 
the  might  of  arms  reduce  the  empire  to  peace."  So  he  made 
Ame,  which  forthwith  became  formed  of  itself.  Again  he 
made  a  vow,  saying:  "  I  will  now  take  the  sacred  jars  and  sink 
them  in  the  River  Nifu.  If  the  fishes,  whether  great  or  small, 
become  every  one  drunken  and  are  carried  down  the  stream, 
like  as  it  were  to  floating  maki  leaves,  then  shall  I  assuredly 
succeed  in  establishing  this  land.  But  if  this  be  not  so,  there 
will  never  be  any  results." 

Thereupon  he  sank  the  jars  in  the  river  with  their  mouths 
downward.  After  a  while  the  fish  all  came  to  the  surface  gap- 
ing, gasping  as  they  floated  down  the  stream.  Then  Shihi- 
netsu-hiko,  seeing  this,  represented  it  to  the  emperor,  who  was 
greatly  rejoiced,  and  plucking  up  a  five-hundred-branched 
masakaki  tree  of  the  upper  waters  of  the  River  Nifu,  he  did 
worship  therewith  to  all  the  gods.  It  was  with  this  that  the 
custom  began  of  selling  sacred  jars. 

At  this  time  he  commanded  Michi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto,  say- 
ing :  "  We  are  now  in  person  about  to  celebrate  a  public  festi- 
val to  Taka-mi-Musubi  no  Mikoto,  and  I  appoint  thee  ruler  of 
the  festival,  and  I  grant  thee  the  title  of  Idzu-hime.  The 


I54         FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL 

earthen  jars  which  are  set  up  shall  be  called  the  Idzube  or 
sacred  jars,  the  fire  shall  be  called  Idzu  no  Kagu-tsuchi  or  sacred- 
fire-elder,  the  water  shall  be  called  Idzu  no  Midzu-ha  no  me 
or  sacred-water-female,  the  food  shall  be  called  Idzuuka  no 
me,  or  sacred-food-female,  the  firewood  shall  be  called  Idzu  no 
Yama-tsuchi  or  sacred-mountain-elder,  and  the  grass  shall  be 
called  Idzu  no  no-tsuchi  or  sacred-moor-elder." 

Winter,  roth  month,  ist  day.  The  emperor  tasted  the  food 
of  the  Idzube,  and  arraying  his  troops  set  forth  upon  his  march. 
He  first  of  all  attacked  the  eighty  bandits  at  Mount  Kunimi, 
routed  and  slew  them.  It  was  in  this  campaign  that  the 
emperor,  fully  resolved  on  victory,  made  these  verses,  saying : 

"  Like  the  Shitadami 
Which  creep  round 
The  great  rock 
Of  the  Sea  of  Ise, 
Where  blows  the  divine  wind — 
Like  the  Shitadami, 
My  boys  !     My  boys  ! 
We  will  creep  around 
And  smite  them  utterly, 
And  smite  them  utterly." 

In  this  poem,  by  the  "great  rock"  is  intended  the  Hill  of 
Kunimi. 

After  this  the  band  which  remained  was  still  numerous,  and 
their  disposition  could  not  be  fathomed.  So  the  emperor  pri- 
vately commanded  Michi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto,  saying :  "  Do  thou 
take  with  thee  the  Oho  Kume,  and  make  a  great  muro  at  the 
village  of  Osaka.  Prepare  a  copious  banquet,  invite  the  enemy 
to  it,  and  then  capture  them."  Michi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto  there- 
upon, in  obedience  to  the  emperor's  sacred  behest,  dug  a  muro 
at  Osaka,  and  having  selected  his  bravest  soldiers,  stayed 
therein  mingled  with  the  enemy.  He  secretly  arranged  with 
them,  saying:  "When  they  have  got  tipsy  with  sake,  I  will 
strike  up  a  song.  Do  you  when  you  hear  the  sound  of  my 
song,  all  at  the  same  time  stab  the  enemy." 

Having  made  this  arrangement  they  took  their  seats,  and 
the  drinking  bout  proceeded.  The  enemy,  unaware  that  there 
was  any  plot,  abandoned  themselves  to  their  feelings,  and 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL          155 

promptly  became  intoxicated.    Then  Michi  no  Omi  no  Mikoto 
struck  up  the  following  song : 

"  At  Osaka 

In  the  great  Muro-house, 
Though  men  in  plenty 
Enter  and  stay, 
We  the  glorious 
Sons  of  warriors, 
Wielding  our  mallet-heads, 
Wielding  our  stone-mallets, 
Will  smite  them  utterly." 

Now  when  our  troops  heard  this  song,  they  all  drew  at  the 
same  time  their  mallet-headed  swords,  and  simultaneously  slew 
the  enemy,  so  that  there  were  no  eaters  left.  The  imperial 
army  were  greatly  delighted;  they  looked  up  to  heaven  and 
laughed.  Therefore  he  made  a  song  saying : 

"Though  folk  say 
That  one  Yemishi 
Is  a  match  for  one  hundred  men, 
They  do  not  so  much  as  resist." 

The  practice  according  to  which,  at  the  present  time,  the 
Kume  sing  this  and  then  laugh  loud,  had  this  origin.  Again 
he  sang,  saying: 

"  Ho  !  now  is  the  time  1 

Ho  !  now  is  the  time  ! 

Ha!    Ha!    Psha ! 

Even  now 

My  boys ! 

Even  now, 

My  boys !" 

All  these  songs  were  sung  in  accordance  with  the  secret 
behest  of  the  emperor.  He  had  not  presumed  to  compose 
them  with  his  own  motion. 

Then  the  emperor  said :  "  It  is  the  part  of  a  good  general 
when  victorious  to  avoid  arrogance.  The  chief  brigands  have 
now  been  destroyed,  but  there  are  ten  bands  of  villains  of  a 
similar  stamp,  who  are  disputatious. 

"  Their  disposition  cannot  be  ascertained.    Why  should  we 


156          FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL 

remain  for  a  long  time  in  one  place  ?  By  so  doing  we  could  not 
have  control  over  emergencies ! "  So  he  removed  his  camp  to 
another  place. 

Eleventh  month,  7th  day.  The  imperial  army  proceeded 
in  great  force  to  attack  the  Hiko  of  Shiki.  First  of  all  the 
emperor  sent  a  messenger  to  summon  Shiki  the  elder,  but  he 
refused  to  obey.  Again  the  Yata-garasu  was  sent  to  bring 
him.  When  the  crow  reached  his  camp  it  cried  to  him,  saying : 
"The  child  of  the  heavenly  deity  sends  for  thee.  Haste! 
haste ! "  Shiki  the  elder  was  enraged  at  this  and  said :  "  Just 
when  I  heard  that  the  conquering  deity  of  heaven  was  coming 
I  was  indignant  at  this ;  why  shouldst  thou,  a  bird  of  the  crow 
tribe,  utter  such  an  abominable  cry  ? "  So  he  drew  his  bow 
and  aimed  at  it.  The  crow  forthwith  fled  away,  and  next  pro- 
ceeded to  the  house  of  Shiki  the  younger,  where  it  cried,  say- 
ing: "The  child  of  the  heavenly  deity  summons  thee.  Haste! 
haste!"  Then  Shiki  the  younger  was  afraid,  and  changing 
countenance,  said:  "Thy  servant,  hearing  of  the  approach  of 
the  conquering  deity  of  heaven,  is  full  of  dread  morning  and 
evening.  Well  hast  thou  cried  to  me,  O  crow ! " 

He  straightway  made  eight  leaf -platters,  on  which  he  dis- 
posed food,  and  entertained  the  crow.  Accordingly,  in  obedi- 
ence to  the  crow,  he  proceeded  to  the  emperor  and  informed 
him,  saying:  "My  elder  brother,  Shiki  the  elder,  hearing  of 
the  approach  of  the  child  of  the  heavenly  deity,  forthwith 
assembled  eighty  bandits  and  provided  arms,  with  which  he 
is  about  to  do  battle  with  thee.  It  will  be  well  to  take  meas- 
ures against  him  without  delay."  The  emperor  accordingly 
assembled  his  generals  and  inquired  of  them,  saying:  "It 
appears  that  Shiki  the  elder  has  now  rebellious  intentions.  I 
summoned  him,  but  again  he  will  not  come.  What  is  to  be 
done  ? "  The  generals  said :  "  Shiki  the  elder  is  a  crafty  knave. 
It  will  be  well,  first  of  all,  to  send  Shiki  the  younger  to  make 
matters  clear  to  him,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make  explana- 
tions to  Kuraji  the  elder  and  Kuraji  the  younger.  If  after 
that  they  still  refuse  submission,  it  will  not  be  too  late  to  take 
warlike  measures  against  them." 

Shiki  the  younger  was  accordingly  sent  to  explain  to  them 
their  interests.  But  Shiki  the  elder  and  the  others  adhered 


FOUNDING   OF  JAPAN'S   CAPITAL          157 

to  their  foolish  design,  and  would  not  consent  to  submit.  Then 
Shiki-netsu-hiko  advised  as  follows :  "  Let  us  first  send  out  our 
feebler  troops  by  the  Osaka  road.  When  the  enemy  sees  them 
he  will  assuredly  proceed  thither  with  all  his  best  troops.  We 
should  then  straightway  urge  forward  our  robust  troops,  and 
make  straight  for  Sumi-Zaka. 

"  Then  with  the  water  of  the  River  Uda  we  should  sprinkle 
the  burning  charcoal,  and  suddenly  take  them  unawares; 
when  they  cannot  fail  to  be  routed."  The  emperor  approved 
this  plan,  and  sent  out  the  feebler  troops  toward  the  enemy, 
who,  thinking  that  a  powerful  force  was  approaching,  awaited 
them  with  all  their  power.  Now  up  to  this  time,  whenever  the 
imperial  army  attacked,  they  invariably  captured,  and  when 
they  fought  they  were  invariably  victorious,  so  that  the  fight- 
ing men  were  all  wearied  out.  Therefore  the  emperor,  to  com- 
fort the  hearts  of  his  leaders  and  men,  struck  off  this  verse : 

"  As  we  fight 
Going  forth  and  watching 
From  between  the  trees 
Of  Mount  Inasa, 
We  are  famished. 
Ye  keepers  of  cormorants 
(Birds  of  the  island) 
Come  now  to  our  aid." 

In  the  end  he  crossed  Sumi-Zaka  with  the  stronger  troops, 
and,  going  round  by  the  rear,  attacked  them  from  two  sides 
and  put  them  to  the  rout,  killing  their  chieftains,  Shiki  the 
elder,  and  the  others. 

Third  month,  /th  day.  The  emperor  made  an  order,  say- 
ing: "During  the  six  years  that  our  expedition  against  the 
East  has  lasted,  owing  to  my  reliance  on  the  majesty  of  Impe- 
rial Heaven,  the  wicked  bands  have  met  death.  It  is  true  that 
the  frontier  lands  are  still  unpurified,  and  that  a  remnant  of 
evil  is  still  refractory.  But  in  the  region  of  the  Central  Land 
there  is  no  more  wind  and  dust.  Truly  we  should  make  a  vast 
and  spacious  capital  and  plan  it  great  and  strong. 

"  At  present  things  are  in  a  crude  and  obscure  condition,  and 
the  people's  minds  are  unsophisticated.  They  roost  in  nests 
or  dwell  in  caves.  Their  manners  are  simply  what  is  custom- 


158          FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL 

ary.  Now  if  a  great  man  were  to  establish  laws,  justice  could 
not  fail  to  flourish.  And  even  if  some  gain  should  accrue  to 
the  people,  in  what  way  would  this  interfere  with  the  sage's 
action?  Moreover  it  will  be  well  to  open  up  and  clear  the 
mountains  and  forests,  and  to  construct  a  palace.  Then  I  may 
reverently  assume  the  precious  dignity,  and  so  give  peace  to 
my  good  subjects.  Above,  I  should  then  respond  to  the  kind- 
ness of  the  heavenly  powers  in  granting  me  the  kingdom ;  and 
below,  I  should  extend  the  line  of  the  imperial  descendants  and 
foster  rightmindedness.  Thereafter  the  capital  may  be  ex- 
tended so  as  to  embrace  all  the  six  cardinal  points  (sic),  and 
the  eight  cords  may  be  covered  so  as  to  form  a  roof.  Will 
this  not  be  well?  When  I  observe  the  Kashiha-bara  plain, 
which  lies  southwest  of  Mount  Unebi,  it  seems  the  centre  of 
the  land.  I  must  set  it  in  order."  Accordingly,  he,  in  this 
month,  commanded  officers  to  set  about  the  construction  of  an 
imperial  residence. 

Year  Kanoye  Saru,  Autumn,  8th  month,  i6th  day.  The 
emperor,  intending  to  appoint  a  wife,  sought  afresh  children  of 
noble  families.  Now  there  was  a  man  who  made  representa- 
tion to  him,  saying :  "  There  is  a  child  who  was  born  to  Koto- 
Shiro-Nushi  no  Kami  by  his  union  with  Tama-Kushi-hime, 
daughter  of  Mizo-kuhi-ni  no  Kami  of  Mishima.  Her  name  is 
Hime-tatara-i-suzu-hime  no  Mikoto.  She  is  a  woman  of  re- 
markable beauty."  The  emperor  was  rejoiced.  And  on  the 
24th  day  of  the  gth  month  he  received  Hime-tatara-i-suzu- 
hime  no  Mikoto  and  made  her  his  wife. 

Year  Kanoto  Tori,  Spring,  ist  month,  ist  day.  The  em- 
peror assumed  the  imperial  dignity  in  the  palace  of  Kashiha- 
bara.  This  year  is  reckoned  the  first  year  of  his  reign.  He 
honored  his  wife  by  making  her  empress.  The  children  born 
to  him  by  her  were  Kami-ya-wi-Mimi  no  Mikoto  and  Kami- 
Nunagaha-Mimi  no  Mikoto.  Therefore  there  is  an  ancient  say- 
ing in  praise  of  this,  as  follows :  "  In  Kashiha-bara  in  Unebi, 
he  mightily  established  his  palace-pillars  on  the  foundation  of 
the  bottom  rock,  and  reared  aloft  the  cross  roof-timbers  to 
the  plain  of  high  heaven.  The  name  of  the  emperor  who 
thus  began  to  rule  the  empire  was  Kami  Yamato  lhare-biko 
Hohodemi." 


FOUNDING   OF   JAPAN'S   CAPITAL          159 

Fourth  year,  Spring,  2d  month,  23d  day.  The  emperor 
issued  the  following  decree :  "  The  spirits  of  our  imperial  ances- 
tors, reflecting  their  radiance  down  from  heaven,  illuminate  and 
assist  us.  All  our  enemies  have  now  been  subdued,  and  there 
is  peace  within  the  seas.  We  ought  to  take  advantage  of  this 
to  perform  sacrifice  to  the  heavenly  deities,  and  therewith 
develop  filial  duty." 

He  accordingly  established  spirit-terraces  among  the  Tomi 
hills,  which  were  called  Kami-tsu-wono  no  Kaki-hara  and 
Shimo  tsu-wono  no  Kaki-hara.  There  he  worshipped  his  im- 
perial ancestors,  the  heavenly  deities. 

Seventy-sixth  year,  Spring,  3d  month,  nth  day.  The  em- 
peror died  in  the  palace  of  Kashiha-bara.  His  age  was  then  127. 
The  following  year,  Autumn,  the  1 2th  day  of  the  Qth  month,  he 
was  buried  in  the  Misasigi,  northeast  of  Mount  Unebi. 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF  BUDDHISM 

B.C.  623 

THOMAS   WILLIAM  RHYS-DAVIDS 

Not  so  many  years  ago,  at  the  time  when  Buddhism  first  became 
known  in  Europe  through  philosophic  writings  of  about  six  centuries 
after  Buddha,  then  newly  translated,  it  caused  amazement  that  a  religion 
which  had  brought  three  hundred  millions  of  people  under  its  sway  should 
acknowledge  no  god.  But  the  religion  of  Buddha,  during  a  thousand 
years  of  practice  by  the  Hindus,  is  entirely  different  from  the  representa- 
tions given  us  in  these  translations.  As  shown  by  the  bas-reliefs  cover- 
ing the  ancient  monuments  of  India,  this  religion,  changed  by  modern 
scientists  into  a  belief  in  atheism,  is,  in  fact,  of  all  religions  the  most 
polytheistic. 

In  the  first  Buddhist  monuments,  dating  back  eighteen  to  twenty  cen- 
turies, the  reformer  simply  figures  as  an  emblem.  The  imprint  of  his 
feet,  the  figure  of  the  "  Bo  tree  "  under  which  he  entered  the  state  of  su- 
preme wisdom,  are  worshipped;  and  though  he  disdained  all  gods,  and 
only  sought  to  teach  a  new  code  of  morals,  we  shortly  see  Buddha  him- 
self depicted  as  a  god.  In  the  early  stages  he  is  generally  represented 
as  alone,  but  gradually  appears  in  the  company  of  the  Brahman  gods. 
He  is  finally  lost  in  a  crowd  of  gods,  and  becomes  nothing  more  than  an 
incarnation  of  one  of  the  Brahman  deities.  From  that  time  Buddhism 
has  been  practically  extinct  in  India. 

This  transformation  took  a  thousand  years  to  bring  about.  During 
part  of  this  great  interval  Buddha  was  being  worshipped  as  an  all-powerful 
god.  Legends  are  told  of  his  appearance  to  his  disciples,  and  of  favors 
he  granted  them. 

It  has  been  said  that  Buddha  tried  to  set  aside  the  laws  of  caste. 
This  is  an  error.  Neither  did  he  attempt  to  break  the  Brahmanic 
Pantheon. 

Buddhism,  which  to-day  is  the  religion  of  three  hundred  million  peo- 
ple, about  one-fifth  of  the  world's  inhabitants,  toward  the  seventh  or 
eighth  century  of  our  era  almost  entirely  disappeared  from  its  birthplace, 
India,  whence  it  had  spread  over  the  rest  of  Asia,  China,  Russian  Tar- 
tary,  Burmah,  etc.  Only  the  two  extreme  frontiers  of  India,  Nepal,  hi 
the  north,  and  Ceylon,  in  the  south,  now  practise  the  Buddhist  cult. 

Gautama  Buddha  left  behind  him  no  written  works.  The  Buddhists 
believe  that  he  composed  works  which  his  immediate  disciples  learned 

160 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM         161 

by  heart,  and  which  were  committed  to  writing  long  afterward.  This  is 
not  impossible,  as  the  Vedas1  were  handed  down  in  this  manner  for  many 
hundreds  of  years. 

There  was  certainly  an  historical  basis  for  the  Buddhist  legend.  In 
fact,  the  legends  group  themselves  round  a  number  of  very  distinct 
occurrences. 

At  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  B.C.  those  Aryan  tribes  sprung  from 
the  same  stem  as  our  own  ancestors,  who  have  preserved  for  us  in  their 
Vedic  songs  so  precious  a  relic  of  ancient  thought  and  life,  had  pushed 
on  beyond  the  five  rivers  of  the  Punjab,  and  were  settled  far  down  into 
the  valley  of  the  Ganges.  They  had  given  up  their  nomadic  habits, 
dwelling  in  villages  and  towns,  their  wealth  being  in  land,  produce,  and 
cattle. 

From  democratic  beginnings  the  whole  nation  had  gradually  become 
bound  by  an  iron  system  of  caste.  The  country  was  split  up  into  little 
sections,  each  governed  by  some  petty  despot,  and  harassed  by  interne- 
cine feuds.  Religion  had  become  a  debasing  ritualism,  with  charms  and 
incantations,  fear  of  the  influence  of  the  stars,  and  belief  in  dreams  and 
omens.  The  idea  of  the  existence  of  a  soul  was  supplemented  by  the 
doctrine  of  transmigration. 

The  priests  were  well-meaning,  ignorant,  and  possessed  of  a  sincere 
belief  in  their  own  divinity.  The  religious  use  of  the  Vedas  and  the 
right  to  sacrifice  were  strictly  confined  to  the  Brahmans.  There  were 
travelling  logicians,  anchorites,  ascetics,  and  solitary  hermits.  Although 
the  ranks  of  the  priesthood  were  closed  against  intruders,  still  a  man  of 
lower  caste  might  become  a  religious  teacher  and  reformer.  Such  were 
the  conditions  which  welcomed  Gautama  Buddha. 


hundred  miles  northeast  of  Benares,  at  Kapilavastu, 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Rohini,  the  modern  Kohana, 
there  lived  about  five  hundred  years  before  Christ  a  tribe 
called  Sakyas.  The  peaks  of  the  mighty  Himalayas  could 
be  seen  in  the  distance.  The  Sakyas  frequently  quarrelled 
with  the  Koliyans,  a  neighboring  tribe,  over  their  water  sup- 
plies from  the  river.  Just  now  the  two  clans  were  at  peace, 
and  two  daughters  of  the  rajah  of  the  Koliyans  were  wives  of 
Suddhodana,  the  rajah  of  the  Sakyas.  Both  were  childless. 
This  was  deemed  a  very  great  misfortune  among  the  Aryans, 
who  thought  that  the  star  of  a  man's  existence  after  death 
depended  upon  ceremonies  to  be  performed  by  his  heir.  There 

1  Vedas:  The  sacred  books  of  the  Hindus,  in  Sanscrit;  probably 
written  about  six  or  seven  centuries  before  Christ.  Veda  means  knowl- 
edge. The  books  comprise  hymns,  prayers,  and  liturgical  forms. 

E.,  VOL.  I.  —  IT 


162        THE   FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM 

was  great  rejoicing,  therefore,  when,  in  about  the  forty-fifth 
year  of  her  age,  the  elder  sister  promised  her  husband  a 
son.  In  due  time  she  started  with  the  intention  of  being  con- 
fined at  her  parents'  house,  but  it  was  on  the  way,  under  the 
shade  of  some  lofty  satin  trees  in  a  pleasant  grove  called  Lum- 
bini,  that  her  son,  the  future  Buddha,  was  unexpectedly  born. 
The  mother  and  child  were  carried  back  to  Suddhodana's 
house,  and  there,  seven  days  afterward,  the  mother  died ;  but 
the  boy  found  a  careful  nurse  in  his  mother's  sister,  his  father's 
other  wife. 

Many  marvellous  stories  have  been  told  about  the  miracu- 
lous birth  and  precocious  wisdom  and  power  of  Gautama.  The 
name  Siddhartha  is  said  to  have  been  given  him  as  a  child, 
Gautama  being  the  family  name.  Numerous  were  his  later 
titles,  such  as  Sakyasinha,  the  lion  of  the  tribe  of  Sakya; 
Sakya-muni,  the  Sakya  sage ;  Sugata,  the  happy  one ;  Sattha, 
the  teacher;  Jina,  the  conqueror;  Bhagava,  the  blessed  one, 
and  many  others. 

In  his  twentieth  year  he  was  married  to  his  cousin,  Yaso- 
dhara,  daughter  of  the  rajah  of  Koli.  Devoting  himself  to 
home  pleasures,  he  was  accused  by  his  relations  of  neglecting 
those  manly  exercises  necessary  for  one  who  might  at  any 
time  have  to  lead  his  people  in  war.  Gautama  heard  of  this, 
and  appointed  a  day  for  a  general  tournament,  at  which  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  being  easily  the  first  at  all  the  trials  of 
skill  and  prowess,  thus  winning  the  good  opinions  of  all  the 
clansmen.  This  is  the  solitary  record  of  his  youth. 

Nothing  more  is  heard  of  him  until,  in  his  twenty-ninth 
year,  Gautama  suddenly  abandoned  his  home  to  devote  himself 
entirely  to  the  study  of  religion  and  philosophy.  It  is  said 
that  an  angel  appeared  to  him  in  four  visions :  a  man  broken 
down  by  age,  a  sick  man,  a  decaying  corpse,  and  lastly,  a  dig- 
nified hermit.  Each  time  Channa,  his  charioteer,  told  him 
that  decay  and  death  were  the  fate  of  all  living  beings.  The 
charioteer  also  explained  to  him  the  character  and  aims  of  the 
ascetics,  exemplified  by  the  hermit. 

Thoughts  of  the  calm  life  of  the  hermit  strongly  stirred  him. 
One  day,  the  occasion  of  the  last  vision,  as  he  was  entering  his 
chariot  to  return  home,  news  was  brought  to  him  that  his  wife 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF   BUDDHISM         163 

Yasodhara  had  given  birth  to  a  son,  his  only  child,  who  was 
called  Rahula.  This  was  about  ten  years  after  his  marriage. 
The  idea  that  this  new  tie  might  become  too  strong  for  him  to 
break  seems  to  have  been  the  immediate  cause  of  his  flight. 
He  returned  home  thoughtful  and  sad. 

But  the  people  of  Kapilavastu  were  greatly  delighted  at  the 
birth  of  the  young  heir,  their  rajah's  only  grandson.  Gautama's 
return  became  an  ovation,  and  he  entered  the  town  amid  a 
general  celebration  of  the  happy  event.  Amid  the  singers  was 
a  young  girl,  his  cousin,  whose  song  contained  the  words, 
"  Happy  the  father,  happy  the  mother,  happy  the  wife  of  such 
a  son  and  husband."  In  the  word  "Happy"  there  was  a 
double  meaning :  it  meant  also  "  freed  "  from  the  chains  of  sin 
and  of  existence,  saved.  In  gratitude  to  one  who  at  such  a 
time  reminded  him  of  his  higher  duties,  Gautama  took  off  his 
necklace  of  pearls  and  sent  it  to  her.  She  imagined  that  she 
had  won  the  love  of  young  Siddhartha,  but  he  took  no  further 
notice  of  her. 

That  night  the  dancing  girls  came,  but  he  paid  them  no 
attention,  and  gradually  fell  into  an  uneasy  slumber.  At  mid- 
night he  awoke,  and  sent  Channa  for  his  horse.  While  wait- 
ing for  the  steed  Gautama  gently  opened  the  door  of  the  room 
where  Yasodhara  was  sleeping,  surrounded  by  flowers,  with 
one  hand  on  the  head  of  her  child.  After  one  loving,  fond 
glance  he  tore  himself  away.  Accompanied  only  by  Channa 
he  left  his  home  and  wealth  and  power,  his  wife  and  only  child 
behind  him,  to  become  a  penniless  wanderer.  This  was  the 
Great  Renunciation. 

There  follows  a  story  of  a  vision.  Mara,  the  great  tempter, 
the  spirit  of  evil,  appears  in  the  sky,  urging  Gautama  to  stop. 
He  promises  him  a  universal  kingdom  over  the  four  great  con- 
tinents if  he  will  but  give  up  his  enterprise.  The  tempter  does 
not  prevail,  but  from  that  time  he  followed  Gautama  as  a 
shadow,  hoping  to  seduce  him  from  that  right  way. 

All  night  Gautama  rode,  and  at  the  dawn,  when  beyond  the 
confines  of  his  father's  domain,  dismounts.  He  cuts  off  his 
long  hair  with  his  sword,  and  sends  back  all  his  ornaments  and 
his  horse  by  the  faithful  charioteer. 

Seven  days  he  spends  alone  beneath  the  shade  of  a  mango 


164        THE  FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM 

grove,  and  then  fares  onward  to  Rajogriha,  the  capital  of 
Magadha.  This  town  was  the  seat  of  Bimbasara,  one  of  the 
most  powerful  princes  in  the  eastern  valley  of  the  Ganges. 
In  the  hillside  caves  near  at  hand  were  several  hermits.  To 
one  of  these  Brahman  teachers,  Alara,  Gautama  attached  him- 
self, and  later  to  another  named  Udraka  From  these  he 
learned  all  that  Hindu  philosophy  could  teach. 

Still  unsatisfied,  Gautama  next  retired  to  the  jungle  of 
Uruvela,  on  the  most  northerly  spur  of  the  Viadhya  range  of 
mountains,  near  the  present  temple  of  Buddha  Gaya.  Here 
for  six  years  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  severest  penance  until 
he  was  wasted  away  to  a  shadow  by  fasting  and  self-mortifica- 
tion. Such  self-control  spread  his  fame  "like  the  sound  of  a 
great  bell  hung  in  the  skies."  But  the  more  he  fasted  and 
denied  himself,  the  more  he  felt  himself  a  prey  to  a  mental 
torture  worse  than  any  bodily  suffering. 

At  last  one  day  when  walking  slowly  up  and  down,  lost  in 
thought,  through  extreme  weakness  he  staggered  and  fell  to 
the  ground.  His  disciples  thought  he  was  dead,  but  he  recov- 
ered. Despairing  of  further  profit  from  such  rigorous  penance, 
he  began  to  take  regular  food  and  gave  up  his  self-mortifica- 
tion. At  this  his  disciples  forsook  him  and  went  away  to 
Benares.  In  their  opinion  mental  conquest  lay  only  through 
bodily  suppression. 

There  now  ensued  a  second  crisis  in  Gautama's  career  which 
culminated  in  his  withstanding  the  renewed  attacks  of  the 
tempter  after  violent  struggles. 

Soon  after,  if  not  on  the  very  day  when  his  disciples  had  left 
him,  he  wandered  out  toward  the  banks  of  the  Nairaujara, 
receiving  his  morning  meal  from  the  hands  of  Sujuta,  the 
daughter  of  a  neighboring  villager,  and  sat  down  to  eat  it  under 
the  shade  of  a  large  tree  (ficus  religiosa),  called  from  that  day 
the  sacred  "  Bo  tree,"  or  tree  of  wisdom.  He  remained  there 
all  day  long,  pondering  what  next  to  do.  All  the  attractions 
of  the  luxurious  home  he  had  abandoned  rose  up  before  him 
most  alluringly.  But  as  the  day  ended  his  lofty  spirit  had  won 
the  victory.  All  doubts  had  lifted  as  mists  before  the  morning 
sun.  He  had  become  Buddha,  that  is,  enlightened.  He  had 
grasped  the  solution  of  the  great  mystery  of  sorrow.  He 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF    BUDDHISM         165 

thought,  having  solved  its  causes  and  its  cure,  he  had  gained 
the  haven  of  peace,  and  believed  that  in  the  power  over  the 
human  heart  of  inward  culture  and  of  love  to  others  he  had 
discovered  a  foundation  which  could  never  be  shaken. 

From  this  time  Gautama  claimed  no  merit  for  penances.  A 
feeling  of  great  loneliness  possessed  him  as  he  arrived  at  his 
psychological  and  ethical  conclusions.  He  almost  despaired  of 
winning  his  fellow-men  to  his  system  of  salvation,  salvation 
merely  by  self-control  and  eve,  without  any  of  the  rites,  cere- 
monies, charms,  or  incantations  of  the  Hindu  religion. 

The  thought  of  mankind,  otherwise,  as  he  imagined,  utterly 
doomed  and  lost,  made  Gautama  resolve,  at  whatever  hazard, 
to  proclaim  his  doctrine  to  the  world.  It  is  certain  that  he 
had  a  most  intense  belief  in  himself  and  his  mission. 

He  had  intended  first  to  proclaim  his  new  doctrine  to  his  old 
teachers,  Alara  and  Udraka,  but  finding  that  they  were  dead, 
he  proceeded  to  the  deer  forest  near  Benares  where  his  former 
disciples  were  then  living.  In  the  cool  of  the  evening  he 
enters  the  deer-park  near  the  city,  but  his  former  disciples 
resolve  not  to  recognize  him  as  a  master.  He  tells  them  that 
they  are  still  in  the  way  of  death,  whereas  he  has  found  the 
way  of  salvation  and  can  lead  them  to  it,  having  become  a 
Buddha.  And  as  they  reply  with  objections  to  his  claims,  he 
explains  the  fundamental  truths  of  his  system  and  principles 
of  his  new  gospel,  which  the  aged  Kondanya  was  the  first  to 
accept  from  his  master's  lips.  This  exposition  is  preserved  in 
the  Dhammacakkappavattana  Sutta,  the  Sutra  of  the  Founda- 
tions of  the  Kingdom  of  Righteousness. 

Gautama  Buddha  taught  that  every  tiling  corporeal  is  material 
and  therefore  impermanent.  Man  in  his  bodily  existence  is 
liable  to  sorrow,  decay,  and  death.  The  reign  of  unholy  desires 
in  his  heart  produces  unsatisfactory  longings,  useless  weari- 
ness, and  care.  Attempted  purification  by  oppressing  the  body 
is  only  wasted  effort.  It  is  the  moral  evil  of  the  heart  which 
keeps  a  man  chained  down  in  the  degraded  state  of  bodily  life, 
which  binds  him  in  a  union  with  the  material  world.  Virtue 
and  goodness  will  only  insure  him  for  a  time,  and,  in  another 
birth,  a  higher  form  of  material  life.  From  the  chains  of  exist- 
ence only  the  complete  eradication  of  all  evil  will  set  him  free 


166        THE  FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM 

But  these  ideas  must  not  be  confused  with  Christian  beliefs, 
for  Buddhism  teaches  nothing  of  any  immaterial  existence.  The 
foundations  of  its  creed  have  been  summed  up  in  the  Four 
Great  Truths,  which  are  as  follows : 

1.  That  misery  always  accompanies  existence; 

2.  That  all  modes  of  existence  of  men  or  animals,  in  death 
or  heaven,  result  from  passion  or  desire  (tanha) ; 

3.  That  there  is  no  escape  from  existence  except  by  destruc- 
tion of  desire ; 

4.  That  this  may  be  accomplished  by  following  the  fourfold 
way  to  Nirvana. 

The  four  stages  are  called  the  Paths,  the  first  being  an 
awakening  of  the  heart.  The  first  enemy  which  the  believer 
has  to  fight  against  is  sensuality  and  the  last  is  unkindliness. 
Above  everything  is  universal  charity.  Till  he  has  gained 
that  the  believer  is  still  bound,  his  mind  is  still  dark.  True 
enlightenment,  true  freedom,  are  complete  only  in  love.  The 
last  great  reward  is  "  Nirvana,"  eternal  rest  or  extinction. 

For  forty-five  years  Gautama  taught  in  the  valley  of  the 
Ganges.  In  the  twentieth  year  his  cousin  Ananda  became  a 
mendicant  and  attended  on  Gautama.  Another  cousin,  how- 
ever, stirred  up  some  persecution  of  the  great  teacher,  and  the 
oppositions  of  the  Brahmans  had  to  be  faced. 

There  are  clear  accounts  of  the  last  few  days  of  Gautama's 
life.  On  a  journey  toward  Kusi-nagara  he  had  rested  in  a 
grove  at  Pawa,  presented  to  the  society  by  a  goldsmith  of  that 
place  named  Chunda.  After  a  midday  meal  of  rice  and  pork, 
prepared  by  Chunda,  the  Master  started  for  Kusi-nagara,  but 
stopped  to  rest  at  the  river  Kukusta.  Feeling  that  he  was 
dying,  he  left  a  message  for  Chunda,  promising  him  a  great 
reward  in  some  future  existence.  He  died  at  the  river  Ku- 
kusta, near  Kusi-nagara,  teaching  to  the  last. 

Gautama's  power  arose  from  his  practical  philanthropy. 
His  philosophy  and  ethics  attracted  the  masses.  He  did  not 
seek  to  found  a  new  religion,  but  thought  that  all  men  would 
accept  his  form  of  the  ancient  creed.  It  was  his  society,  the 
Sangha,  or  Buddhist  order,  rather  than  his  doctrine,  which  gave 
to  his  religion  its  practical  vitality. 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM         167 

The  following  lines,  filled  with  the  poetic  beauty  of  the 
Orient,  are  taken  from  the  last  spoken  words  of  the  great 
founder  of  Buddhism  and  the  Book  of  the  Great  Decease. 
They  give  a  clew  to  the  cult  of  that  religion  and  breathe  the 
spirit  of  Nirvana  in  every  scintillating  sentence.  As  nearly  as 
may  be  the  translation  is  a  literal  one,  done  by  Rhys-Davids, 
the  world's  greatest  living  authority  on  this  subject : 

Now  the  Blessed  One  addressed  the  venerable  Ananda,  and 
said :  "  It  may  be,  Ananda,  that  in  some  of  you  the  thought 
may  arise,  '  The  word  of  the  Master  is  ended,  we  have  no 
teacher  more ! '  But  it  is  not  thus,  Ananda,  that  you  should 
regard  it.  The  truths  and  the  rules  of  the  order  which  I  have 
set  forth  and  laid  down  for  you  all,  let  them,  after  I  am  gone, 
be  the  Teacher  to  you. 

"  Ananda  1  when  I  am  gone  address  not  one  another  in  the 
way  in  which  the  brethren  have  heretofore  addressed  each  other 
— with  the  epithet,  that  is,  of  'Avuso'  (Friend).  A  younger 
brother  may  be  addressed  by  an  elder  with  his  name,  or  his 
family  name,  or  the  title  '  Friend.'  But  an  elder  should  be 
addressed  by  a  younger  brother  as  *  Lord '  or  as  '  Venerable 
Sir.' 

"  When  I  am  gone,  Ananda,  let  the  order,  if  it  should  so 
wish,  abolish  all  the  lesser  and  minor  precepts. 

"When  I  am  gone,  Ananda,  let  the  higher  penalty  be 
imposed  on  brother  Khanna." 

"  But  what,  Lord,  is  the  higher  penalty  ? " 

"Let  Khanna  say  whatever  he  may  like,  Ananda;  the 
brethren  should  neither  speak  to  him,  nor  exhort  him,  nor 
admonish  him." 

Then  the  Blessed  One  addressed  the  brethren,  and  said: 
"  It  may  be,  brethren,  that  there  may  be  doubt  or  misgiving 
in  the  mind  of  some  brother  as  to  the  Buddha,  or  the  truth,  or 
the  path,  or  the  way.  Inquire,  brethren,  freely.  Do  not  have 
to  reproach  yourselves  afterward  with  the  thought,  '  Our 
teacher  was  face  to  face  with  us,  and  we  could  not  bring  our- 
selves to  inquire  of  the  Blessed  One  when  we  were  face  to  face 
with  him.' " 

And  when  he  had  thus  spoken  the  brethren  were  silent. 

And  again  the  second  and  the  third  time  the  Blessed  One 


168        THE  FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM 

addressed  the  brethren,  and  said :  "  It  may  be,  brethren,  that 
there  may  be  doubt  or  misgiving  in  the  mind  of  some  brother 
as  to  the  Buddha,  or  the  truth,  or  the  path,  or  the  way. 
Inquire,  brethren,  freely.  Do  not  have  to  reproach  yourselves 
afterward  with  the  thought,  '  Our  teacher  was  face  to  face 
with  us,  and  we  could  not  bring  ourselves  to  inquire  of  the 
Blessed  One  when  we  were  face  to  face  with  him.' " 

And  even  the  third  time  the  brethren  were  silent. 

Then  the  Blessed  One  addressed  the  brethren,  and  said: 
"  It  may  be,  brethren,  that  you  put  no  questions  out  of  rever- 
ence for  the  teacher.  Let  one  friend  communicate  to  another." 

And  when  he  had  thus  spoken  the  brethren  were  silent. 

And  the  venerable  Ananda  said  to  the  Blessed  One :  "  How 
wonderful  a  thing  is  it,  Lord,  and  how  marvellous !  Verily,  I 
believe  that  in  this  whole  assembly  of  the  brethren  there  is  not 
one  brother  who  has  any  doubt  or  misgiving  as  to  the  Buddha, 
or  the  truth,  or  the  path,  or  the  way ! " 

"It  is  out  of  the  fulness  of  faith  that  thou  hast  spoken, 
Ananda !  But,  Ananda,  the  Tathagata  knows  for  certain  that 
in  this  whole  assembly  of  the  brethren  there  is  not  one  brother 
who  has  any  doubt  or  misgiving  as  to  the  Buddha,  or  the  truth, 
or  the  path,  or  the  way!  For  even  the  most  backward, 
Ananda,  of  all  these  five  hundred  brethren  has  become  con- 
verted, and  is  no  longer  liable  to  be  born  in  a  state  of  suffer- 
ing, and  is  assured  of  final  salvation." 

Then  the  Blessed  One  addressed  the  brethren,  and  said : 
"  Behold  now,  brethren,  I  exhort  you,  saying,  '  Decay  is  inher- 
ent in  all  component  things !  Work  out  your  salvation  with 
diligence ! ' " 

This  was  the  last  word  of  the  Tathagata ! 

Then  the  Blessed  One  entered  into  the  first  stage  of  deep 
meditation.  And  rising  out  of  the  first  stage  he  passed  into 
the  second.  And  rising  out  of  the  second  he  passed  into  the 
third.  And  rising  out  of  the  third  stage  he  passed  into 
the  fourth.  And  rising  out  of  the  fourth  stage  of  deep  medi- 
tation he  entered  into  the  state  of  mind  to  which  the  infinity  of 
space  is  alone  present.  And  passing  out  of  the  mere  conscious- 
ness of  the  infinity  of  space  he  entered  into  the  state  of  mind 
to  which  nothing  at  all  was  specially  present.  And  passing  out 


THE  FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM         169 

)f  the  consciousness  of  no  special  object  he  fell  into  a  state 
oetween  consciousness  and  unconsciousness.  And  passing  out 
of  the  state  between  consciousness  and  unconsciousness  he  fell 
into  a  state  in  which  the  consciousness  both  of  sensations  and 
of  ideas  had  wholly  passed  away. 

Then  the  venerable  Ananda  said  to  the  venerable  Anurud- 

dha :     "  O  my  Lord,  O  Anuruddha,  the  Blessed  One  is  dead ! " 

"  Nay !  brother  Ananda,  the  Blessed  One  is  not  dead.     He 

has  entered  into  that  state  in  which  both  sensations  and  ideas 

have  ceased  to  be ! " 

Then  the  Blessed  One  passing  out  of  the  state  in  which 
both  sensations  and  ideas  have  ceased  to  be,  entered  into  the 
state  between  consciousness  and  unconsciousness.  And  pass- 
ing out  of  the  state  between  consciousness  and  unconscious- 
ness he  entered  into  the  state  of  mind  to  which  nothing  at  all 
is  specially  present.  And  passing  out  of  the  consciousness  of 
no  special  object  he  entered  into  the  state  of  mind  to  which  the 
infinity  of  thought  is  alone  present.  And  passing  out  of  the 
mere  consciousness  of  the  infinity  of  thought  he  entered  into 
the  state  of  mind  to  which  the  infinity  of  space  is  alone  pres- 
ent. And  passing  out  of  the  mere  consciousness  of  the  infin- 
ity of  space  he  entered  into  the  fourth  stage  of  deep  meditation. 
And  passing  out  of  the  fourth  stage  he  entered  into  the  third. 
And  passing  out  of  the  third  stage  he  entered  into  the  second. 
And  passing  out  of  the  second  he  entered  into  the  first.  And 
passing  out  of  the  first  stage  of  deep  meditation  he  entered  the 
second.  And  passing  out  of  the  second  stage  he  entered  into 
the  third.  And  passing  out  of  the  third  stage  he  entered  into 
the  fourth  stage  of  deep  meditation.  And  passing  out  of  the 
last  stage  of  deep  meditation  he  immediately  expired. 

When  the  Blessed  One  died  there  arose,  at  the  moment  of 
his  passing  out  of  existence,  a  mighty  earthquake,  terrible^  and 
awe-inspiring :  and  the  thunders  of  heaven  burst  forth. 

When  the  Blessed  One  died,  Brahma  Sahampati,  at  the 
moment  of  his  passing  away  from  existence,  uttered  this  stanza : 

"  They  all,  all  beings  that  have  life,  shall  lay 
Aside  their  complex  form — that  aggregation 
Of  mental  arvd  material  qualities, 
That  gives  them,  or  in  heaven  or  on  earth, 


i;o    THE  FOUNDATION  OF  BUDDHISM 

Their  fleeting  individuality ! 
E'en  as  the  teacher— being  such  a  one, 
Unequalled  among  all  the  men  that  are, 
Successor  of  the  prophets  of  old  time, 
Mighty  by  wisdom,  and  in  insight  dear- 
Hath  died  1" 

When  the  Blessed  One  died,  Sakka,  the  king  of  the  gods, 
at  the  moment  of  his  passing  away  from  existence,  uttered  this 
stanza: 

"  They're  transient  all,  each  being's  parts  and  powers, 
Growth  is  their  nature,  and  decay. 
They  are  produced,  they  are  dissolved  again, 
And  then  is  best,  when  they  have  sunk  to  rest ! " 

When  the  Blessed  One  died,  the  venerable  Anuruddha,  at 
the  moment  of  his  passing  away  from  existence,  uttered  these 
stanzas: 

"  When  he  who  from  all  craving  want  was  free, 
Who  to  Nirvana's  tranquil  state  had  reached, 
When  the  great  sage  finished  his  span  of  life, 
No  gasping  struggle  vexed  that  steadfast  heart  I 
All  resolute,  and  with  unshaken  mind, 
He  calmly  triumphed  o'er  the  pain  of  death. 
E'en  as  a  bright  flame  dies  away,  so  was 
His  last  deliverance  from  the  bonds  of  life  !" 

When  the  Blessed  One  died,  the  venerable  Ananda,  at  the 
moment  of  his  passing  away  from  existence,  uttered  this  stanza : 

"  Then  was  there  terror ! 
Then  stood  the  hair  on  end  1 
When  he  endowed  with  every  grace— 
The  supreme  Buddha — died  ! " 

When  the  Blessed  One  died,  of  those  of  the  brethren  who 
were  not  free  from  the  passions,  some  stretched  out  their  arms 
and  wept,  and  some  fell  headlong  to  the  ground,  rolling  to  and 
fro  in  anguish  at  the  thought:  "Too  soon  has  the  Blessed 
One  died !  Too  soon  has  the  Happy  One  passed  away  from 
existence !  Too  soon  has  the  Light  gone  out  in  the  world ! " 
But  those  of  the  brethren  who  were  free  from  the  passions 
(the  Arahats)  bore  their  grief  collected  and  composed  at  the 


THE   FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM         171 

thought :     "  Impermanent  are  all  component  things !     How  is 
it  possible  that  [they  should  not  be  dissolved]  ?  " 

Then  the  venerable  Anuruddha  exhorted  the  brethren,  and 
said:  "Enough,  my  brethren!  Weep  not,  neither  lament! 
Has  not  the  Blessed  One  formerly  declared  this  to  us,  that  it 
is  in  the  very  nature  of  all  things  near  and  dear  unto  us,  that  we 
must  divide  ourselves  from  them,  leave  them,  sever  ourselves 
from  them  ?  How,  then,  brethren,  can  this  be  possible — that 
whereas  anything  whatever  born,  brought  into  being,  and  or- 
ganized, contains  within  itself  the  inherent  necessity  of  dis- 
solution— how  then  can  this  be  possible  that  such  a  being 
should  not  be  dissolved  ?  No  such  condition  can  exist !  Even 
the  spirits,  brethren,  will  reproach  us." 

"  But  of  what  kind  of  spirits  is  the  Lord,  the  venerable  Anu- 
ruddha, thinking  ? " 

"There  are  spirits,  brother  Ananda,  in  the  sky,  but  of 
worldly  mind,  who  dishevel  their  hair  and  weep,  and  stretch 
forth  their  arms  and  weep,  fall  prostrate  on  the  ground,  and 
roll  to  and  fro  in  anguish  at  the  thought :  '  Too  soon  has  the 
Blessed  One  died !  Too  soon  has  the  Happy  One  passed  away ! 
Too  soon  has  the  Light  gone  out  in  the  world ! ' 

"  There  are  spirits,  too,  Ananda,  on  the  earth,  and  of  worldly 
mind,  who  tear  their  hair  and  weep,  and  stretch  forth  their 
arms  and  weep,  fall  prostrate  on  the  ground,  and  roll  to  and 
fro  in  anguish  at  the  thought :  '  Too  soon  has  the  Blessed  One 
died !  Too  soon  has  the  Happy  One  passed  away !  Too  soon 
has  the  Light  gone  out  in  the  world ! ' 

"  But  the  spirits  who  are  free  from  passion  hear  it,  calm  and 
self-possessed,  mindful  of  the  saying  which  begins,  '  Imperma- 
nent indeed  are  all  component  things.  How  then  is  it  possible 
[that  such  a  being  should  not  be  dissolved]  ? ' ' 

Now  the  venerable  Anuruddha  and  the  venerable  Ananda 
spent  the  rest  of  that  night  in  religious  discourse.  Then  the 
venerable  Anuruddha  said  to  the  venerable  Ananda :  "  Go  now, 
brother  Ananda,  into  Kusinara  and  inform  the  Mallas  of 
Kusinara,  saying,  'The  Blessed  One,  O  Vasetthas,  is  dead:  do, 
then,  whatever  seemeth  to  you  fit ! " 

"  Even  so,  Lord ! "  said  the  venerable  Ananda,  in  assent  to 
the  venerable  Anuruddha.  And  having  robed  himself  eaxly  in 


I72        THE  FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM 

the  morning,  he  took  his  bowl,  and  went  into  Kusinara  with 
one  of  the  brethren  as  an  attendant. 

Now  at  that  time  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  were  assembled 
in  the  council  hall  concerning  that  very  matter. 

And  the  venerable  Ananda  went  to  the  council  hall  of  the 
Mallas  of  Kusinara ;  and  when  he  had  arrived  there,  he  informed 
them,  saying,  "The  Blessed  One,  O  Vasetthas,  is  dead;  do, 
then,  whatever  seemeth  to  you  fit !  " 

And  when  they  had  heard  this  saying  of  the  venerable 
Ananda,  the  Mallas,  with  their  young  men  and  their  maidens 
and  their  wives,  were  grieved,  and  sad,  and  afflicted  at  heart. 
And  some  of  them  wept,  dishevelling  their  hair,  and  some 
stretched  forth  their  arms  and  wept,  and  some  fell  prostrate  on 
the  ground,  and  some  reeled  to  and  fro  in  anguish  at  the 
thought :  "  Too  soon  has  the  Blessed  One  died !  Too  soon  has 
the  Happy  One  passed  away !  Too  soon  has  the  Light  gone 
out  in  the  world !  " 

Then  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  gave  orders  to  their  attend- 
ants, saying,  "  Gather  together  perfumes  and  garlands,  and  all 
the  music  in  Kusinara !  " 

And  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  took  the  perfumes  and  gar- 
lands, and  all  the  musical  instruments,  and  five  hundred  suits 
of  apparel,  and  went  to  the  Upavattana,  to  the  Sala  Grove  of 
the  Mallas,  where  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One  lay.  There 
they  passed  the  day  in  paying  honor,  reverence,  respect,  and 
homage  to  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One  with  dancing,  and 
hymns,  and  music,  and  with  garlands  and  perfumes;  and  in 
making  canopies  of  their  garments,  and  preparing  decoration 
wreaths  to  hang  thereon. 

Then  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  thought :  "  It  is  much  too  late 
to  burn  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One  to-day.  Let  us  now  per- 
form the  cremation  to-morrow."  And  in  paying  honor,  rever- 
ence, respect,  and  homage  to  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One 
with  dancing,  and  hymns,  and  music,  and  with  garlands  and  per- 
fumes ;  and  in  making  canopies  of  their  garments,  and  prepar- 
ing decoration  wreaths  to  hang  thereon,  they  passed  the  second 
day  too,  and  then  the  third  day,  and  the  fourth,  and  the  fifth, 
and  the  sixth  day  also. 

Then  on  the  seventh  day  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  thought: 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF   BUDDHISM         173 

"  Let  us  carry  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One,  by  the  south  and 
outside,  to  a  spot  on  the  south,  and  outside  of  the  city, — pay- 
ing it  honor,  and  reverence,  and  respect,  and  homage,  with 
dance  and  song  and  music,  with  garlands  and  perfumes, — and 
there,  to  the  south  of  the  city,  let  us  perform  the  cremation 
ceremony ! " 

And  thereupon  eight  chieftains  among  the  Mallas  bathed 
their  heads,  and  clad  themselves  in  new  garments  with  the 
intention  of  bearing  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One.  But,  behold, 
they  could  not  lift  it  up ! 

Then  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  said  to  the  venerable  Anu- 
ruddha:  "What,  Lord,  can  be  the  reason,  what  can  be  the 
cause  that  eight  chieftains  of  the  Mallas  who  have  bathed  their 
heads,  and  clad  themselves  in  new  garments  with  the  intention 
of  bearing  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One,  are  unable  to  lift  it 
up?" 

"  It  is  because  you,  O  Vasetthas,  have  one  purpose  and  the 
spirits  have  another  purpose." 

"  But  what,  Lord,  is  the  purpose  of  the  spirits  ? " 

"  Your  purpose,  O  Vasetthas,  is  this :  *  Let  us  carry  the  body 
of  the  Blessed  One,  by  the  south  and  outside,  to  a  spot  on  the 
south,  and  outside  of  the  city, — paying  it  honor,  and  reverence, 
and  respect,  and  homage,  with  dance  and  song  and  music,  with 
garlands  and  perfumes, — and  there,  to  the  south  of  the  city,  let 
us  perform  the  cremation  ceremony.'  But  the  purpose  of  the 
spirits,  Vasetthas,  is  this :  *  Let  us  carry  the  body  of  the  Blessed 
One  by  the  north  to  the  north  of  the  city,  and  entering  the 
city  by  the  north  gate,  let  us  bring  it  through  the  midst  of 
the  city  into  the  midst  thereof.  And  going  out  again  by  the 
eastern  gate, — paying  honor,  and  reverence,  and  respect,  and 
homage  to  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One,  with  heavenly  dance, 
and  song,  and  music,  and  garlands,  and  perfumes, — let  us  carry 
it  to  the  shrine  of  the  Mallas  called  Makuta-bandhana,  to  the 
east  of  the  city,  and  there  let  us  perform  the  cremation  cere- 
mony.' " 

"  Even  according  to  the  purpose  of  the  spirits,  so,  Lord, 
let  it  be ! " 

Then  immediately  all  Kusinara  down  even  to  the  dust-bins 
and  rubbish  heaps  became  strewn  knee-deep  with  Mandarava 


174        THE   FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM 

flowers  from  heaven !  and  while  both  the  spirits  from  the  skies, 
and  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  upon  earth,  paid  honor,  and  rever- 
ence, and  respect,  and  homage  to  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One, 
with  dance  and  song  and  music,  with  garlands  and  with  per- 
fumes, they  carried  the  body  by  the  north  to  the  north  of  the 
city ;  and  entering  the  city  by  the  north  gate  they  carried  it 
through  the  midst  of  the  city  into  the  midst  thereof;  and  going 
out  again  by  the  eastern  gate  they  carried  it  to  the  shrine  of 
the  Mallas,  called  '  Makuta-bandhana ;  and  there,  to  the  east 
of  the  city,  they  laid  down  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One. 

Then  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  said  to  the  venerable  Ananda : 
"  What  should  be  done,  Lord,  with  the  remains  of  the  Tatha- 
gata?" 

"  As  men  treat  the  remains  of  a  king  of  kings,  so,  Vasetthas, 
should  they  treat  the  remains  of  a  Tathagata." 

"And  how,  Lord,  do  they  treat  the  remains  of  a  king  of 
kings  ? " 

"  They  wrap  the  body  of  a  king  of  kings,  Vasetthas,  in  a 
new  cloth.  When  that  is  done  they  wrap  it  in  cotton  wool. 
When  that  is  done  they  wrap  it  in  a  new  cloth, — and  so  on  till 
they  have  wrapped  the  body  in  five  hundred  successive  layers 
of  both  kinds.  Then  they  place  the  body  in  an  oil  vessel  of 
iron,  and  cover  that  close  up  with  another  oil  vessel  of  iron. 
They  then  build  a  funeral  pile  of  all  kinds  of  perfumes,  and 
burn  the  body  of  the  king  of  kings.  And  then  at  the  four 
cross  roads  they  erect  a  dagaba  to  the  king  of  kings.  This, 
Vasetthas,  is  the  way  in  which  they  treat  the  remains  of  a  king 
of  kings.  And  as  they  treat  the  remains  of  a  king  of  kings,  so, 
Vasetthas,  should  they  treat  the  remains  of  the  Tathagata.  At 
the  four  cross  roads  a  dagaba  should  be  erected  to  the  Tatha- 
gata. And  whosoever  shall  there  place  garlands  or  perfumes 
or  paint,  or  make  salutation  there,  or  become  in  its  presence 
calm  in  heart — that  shall  long  be  to  them  for  a  profit  and  a  joy." 

Therefore  the  Mallas  gave  orders  to  their  attendants,  say- 
ing, "  Gather  together  all  the  carded  cotton  wool  of  the  Mallas ! " 

Then  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  wrapped  the  body  of  the 
Blessed  One  in  a  new  cloth.  And  when  that  was  done  they 
wrapped  it  in  cotton  wool.  And  when  that  was  done,  they 
wrapped  it  in  a  new  cloth,— and  so  on  till  they  had  wrapped 


THE   FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM         175 

the  body  of  the  Blessed  One  in  five  hundred  layers  of  both 
kinds.  And  then  they  placed  the  body  in  an  oil  vessel  of  iron, 
and  covered  that  close  up  with  another  vessel  of  iron.  And 
then  they  built  a  funeral  pile  of  all  kinds  of  perfumes,  and  upon 
it  they  placed  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One. 

Now  at  that  time  the  venerable  Maha  Kassapa  was  journey- 
ing along  the  high  road  from  Pava  to  Kusinara  with  a  great 
company  of  the  brethren,  with  about  five  hundred  of  the 
brethren.  And  the  venerable  Maha  Kassapa  left  the  high 
road,  and  sat  himself  down  at  the  foot  of  a  certain  tree. 

Just  at  that  time  a  certain  naked  ascetic  who  had  picked  up 
a  Mandarava  flower  in  Kusinara  was  coming  along  the  high 
road  to  Pava.  And  the  venerable  Maha  Kassapa  saw  the  naked 
ascetic  coming  in  the  distance ;  and  when  he  had  seen  him  he 
said  to  the  naked  ascetic :  "  O  friend !  surely  thou  knowest  our 
Master?" 

"  Yea,  friend !  I  know  him.  This  day  the  Samana  Gautama 
has  been  dead  a  week  1  That  is  how  I  obtained  this  Mandarava 
flower." 

And  immediately  of  those  of  the  brethren  who  were  not 
yet  free  from  the  passions,  some  stretched  out  their  arms  and 
wept,  and  some  fell  headlong  on  the  ground,  and  some  reeled 
to  and  fro  in  anguish  at  the  thought:  "Too  soon  has  the 
Blessed  One  died !  Too  soon  has  the  Happy  One  passed  away 
from  existence!  Too  soon  has  the  Light  gone  out  in  the 
world ! " 

But  those  of  the  brethren  who  were  free  from  the  passions 
(the  Arahats)  bore  their  grief  collected  and  composed  at  the 
thought :  "  Impermanent  are  all  component  things !  How  is  it 
possible  that  they  should  not  be  dissolved  ? " 

Now  at  that  time  a  brother  named  Subhadda,  who  had  been 
received  into  the  order  in  his  old  age,  was  seated  there  in  their 
company.  And  Subhadda  the  old  addressed  the  brethren  and 
said :  "  Enough,  brethren !  Weep  not,  neither  lament !  We 
are  well  rid  of  the  great  Samana.  We  used  to  be  annoyed  by 
being  told,  '  This  beseems  you,  this  beseems  you  not.'  But 
now  we  shall  be  able  to  do  whatever  we  like ;  and  what  we  do 
not  like  that  we  shall  not  have  to  do ! " 

But  the  venerable  Maha  Kassapa  addressed  the  brethren, 


i;6   THE  FOUNDATION  OF  BUDDHISM 

and  said :  "  Enough,  my  brethren !  Weep  not,  neither  lament ! 
Has  not  the  Blessed  One  formerly  declared  this  to  us,  that  it 
is  in  the  very  nature  of  all  things  near  and  dear  unto  us  that 
we  must  divide  ourselves  from  them,  leave  them,  sever  our- 
selves from  them  ?  How  then,  brethren,  can  this  be  possible — 
that  whereas  anything  whatever  born,  brought  into  being,  and 
organized  contains  within  itself  the  inherent  necessity  of  disso- 
lution— how  then  can  this  be  possible  that  such  a  being  should 
not  be  dissolved  ?  No  such  condition  can  exist ! " 

Now  just  at  that  time  four  chieftains  of  the  Mallas  had 
bathed  their  heads  and  clad  themselves  in  new  garments  with 
the  intention  of  setting  on  fire  the  funeral  pile  of  the  Blessed 
One.  But,  behold,  they  were  unable  to  set  it  alight !  Then 
the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  said  to  the  venerable  Anuruddha: 
"  What,  Lord,  can  be  the  reason,  and  what  the  cause,  that  four 
chieftains  of  the  Mallas  who  have  bathed  their  heads,  and  clad 
themselves  in  new  garments,  with  the  intention  of  setting  on 
fire  the  funeral  pile  of  the  Blessed  One,  are  unable  to  set  it 
on  fire?" 

"  It  is  because  you,  O  Vasetthas,  have  one  purpose,  and  the 
spirits  have  another  purpose." 

"  But  what,  Lord,  is  the  purpose  of  the  spirits  ? " 

"The  purpose  of  the  spirits,  O  Vasetthas,  is  this:  *That 
venerable  brother  Maha  Kassapa  is  now  journeying  along  the 
high  road  from  Pava  to  Kusinara  with  a  great  company  of  the 
brethren,  with  five  hundred  of  the  brethren.  The  funeral  pile 
of  the  Blessed  One  shall  not  catch  fire,  until  the  venerable  Maha 
Kassapa  shall  have  been  able  reverently  to  salute  the  sacred 
feet  of  the  Blessed  One.'  " 

"  Even  according  to  the  purpose  of  the  spirits,  so,  Lord, 
let  it  be ! " 

Then  the  venerable  Maha  Kassapa  went  on  to  Makutzt- 
bandhana  of  Kusinara,  to  the  shrine  of  the  Mallas,  to  the  place 
where  the  funeral  pile  of  the  Blessed  One  was.  And  when  he 
had  come  up  to  it,  he  arranged  his  robe  on  one  shoulder ;  and 
bowing  down  with  clasped  hands  he  thrice  walked  reverently 
round  the  pile ;  and  then,  uncovering  the  feet,  he  bowed  down 
in  reverence  at  the  feet  of  the  Blessed  One.  And  those  five 
hundred  brethren  arranged  their  robes  on  one  shoulder;  and 


THE  FOUNDATION  OF   BUDDHISM         177 

bowing  down  with  clasped  hands,  they  thrice  walked  reverently 
round  the  pile,  and  then  bowed  down  in  reverence  at  the  feet 
of  the  Blessed  One. 

And  when  the  homage  of  the  venerable  Maha  Kassapa  and 
of  those  five  hundred  brethren  was  ended,  the  funeral  pile  of 
the  Blessed  One  caught  fire  of  itself.  Now  as  the  body  of  the 
Blessed  One  burned  itself  away,  from  the  skin  and  the  integu- 
ment, and  the  flesh,  and  the  nerves,  and  the  fluid  of  the  joints, 
neither  soot  nor  ash  was  seen :  and  only  the  bones  remained 
behind. 

Just  as  one  sees  no  soot  nor  ash  when  glue  or  oil  is  burned, 
so,  as  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One  burned  itself  away,  from 
the  skin  and  the  integument,  and  the  flesh,  and  the  nerves, 
and  the  fluid  of  the  joints,  neither  soot  nor  ash  was  seen:  and 
only  the  bones  remained  behind.  And  of  those  five  hundred 
pieces  of  raiment  the  very  innermost  and  outermost  were  both 
consumed.  And  when  the  body  of  the  Blessed  One  had  been 
burned  up,  there  came  down  streams  of  water  from  the  sky  and 
extinguished  the  funeral  pile  of  the  Blessed  One;  and  there 
burst  forth  streams  of  water  from  the  storehouse  of  the  waters 
(beneath  the  earth),  and  extinguished  the  funeral  pile  of  the 
Blessed  One.  The  Mallas  of  Kusinara  also  brought  water 
scented  with  all  kinds  of  perfumes,  and  extinguished  the  funeral 
pile  of  the  Blessed  One. 

Then  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  surrounded  the  bones  of  the 
Blessed  One  in  their  council  hall  with  a  lattice  work  of  spears, 
and  with  a  rampart  of  bows;  and  there  for  seven  days  they 
paid  honor  and  reverence  and  respect  and  homage  to  them  with 
dance  and  song  and  music,  and  with  garlands  and  perfumes. 

Now  the  king  of  Magadha,  Agatasattu,  the  son  of  the  queen 
of  the  Videha  clan,  heard  the  news  that  the  Blessed  One  had 
died  at  Kusinara.  Then  the  king  of  Magadha,  Agatasattu, 
the  son  of  the  queen  of  the  Videha  clan,  sent  a  messenger  to 
the  Mallas,  saying,  "  The  Blessed  One  belonged  to  the  soldier 
caste,  and  I  too  am  of  the  soldier  caste.  I  am  worthy  to 
receive  a  portion  of  the  relics  of  the  Blessed  One.  Over  the 
remains  of  the  Blessed  One  will  I  put  up  a  sacred  cairn,  and  in 
honor  thereof  will  I  celebrate  a  feast ! " 

And   the   Likkhavis  of  Vesali  heard  the  news  that  the 

E.f  VOL.  I. — IZ 


i;8   THE  FOUNDATION  OF  BUDDHISM 

Blessed  One  had  died  at  Kusinara.  And  the  Likkhavis  of 
Vesali  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Mallas,  saying,  "  The  Blessed 
One  belonged  to  the  soldier  caste,  and  we  too  are  of  the  sol- 
dier caste.  We  are  worthy  to  receive  a  portion  of  the  relics  of 
the  Blessed  One.  Over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One  will 
we  put  up  a  sacred  cairn,  and  in  honor  thereof  will  we  celebrate 
a  feast ! " 

And  the  Sakiyas  of  Kapila-vatthu  heard  the  news  that  the 
Blessed  One  had  died  at  Kusinara.  And  the  Sakiyas  of  Kapila- 
vatthu  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Mallas,  saying  "  The  Blessed 
One  was  the  pride  of  our  race.  We  are  worthy  to  receive  a 
portion  of  the  relics  of  the  Blessed  One.  Over  the  remains 
of  the  Blessed  One  will  we  put  up  a  sacred  cairn,  and  in  honor 
thereof  will  we  celebrate  a  feast ! " 

And  the  Bulis  of  Allakappa  heard  the  news  that  the  Blessed 
One  had  died  at  Kusinara.  And  the  Bulis  of  Allakappa  sent 
a  messenger  to  the  Mallas,  saying,  "  The  Blessed  One  belonged 
to  the  soldier  caste,  and  we  too  are  of  the  soldier  caste.  We 
are  worthy  to  receive  a  portion  of  the  relics  of  the  Blessed 
One.  Over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One  will  we  put  up  a 
sacred  cairn,  and  in  honor  thereof  will  we  celebrate  a  feast ! " 

And  the  Brahman  of  Vethadipa  heard  the  news  that  the 
Blessed  One  had  died  at  Kusinara.  And  the  Brahman  of 
Vethadipa  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Mallas,  saying,  "The 
Blessed  One  belonged  to  the  soldier  caste,  and  I  am  a  Brah- 
man. I  am  worthy  to  receive  a  portion  of  the  relics  of  the 
Blessed  One.  Over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One  will  I  put 
up  a  sacred  cairn,  and  in  honor  thereof  will  I  celebrate  a  feast ! " 

And  the  Mallas  of  Pava  heard  the  news  that  the  Blessed  One 
had  died  at  Kusinara.  Then  the  Mallas  of  Pava  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  the  Mallas,  saying,  "  The  Blessed  One  belonged  to 
the  soldier  caste,  and  we  too  are  of  the  soldier  caste.  We  are 
worthy  to  receive  a  portion  of  the  relics  of  the  Blessed  One. 
Over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One  will  we  put  up  a  sacred 
cairn,  and  in  honor  thereof  will  we  celebrate  a  feast ! " 

When  they  heard  these  things  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  spoke 
to  the  assembled  brethren,  saying,  "  The  Blessed  One  died  in 
our  village  domain.  We  will  not  give  away  any  part  of  the 
remains  of  the  Blessed  One ! "  When  they  had  thus  spoken, 


THE   FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM         179 

Dona  the  Brahman  addressed   the  assembled    brethren,  and 
said: 

"  Hear,  reverend  sir,  one  single  word  from  me. 
Forbearance  was  our  Buddha  wont  to  teach. 
Unseemly  is  it  that  over  the  division 
Of  the  remains  of  him  who  was  the  best  of  beings 
Strife  should  arise,  and  wounds,  and  war ! 
Let  us  all,  sirs,  with  one  accord  unite 
In  friendly  harmony  to  make  eight  portions. 
Wide  spread  let  Thupas  rise  hi  every  land 
That  in  the  Enlightened  One  mankind  may  trust !  * 

"  Do  thou  then,  O  Brahman,  thyself  divide  the  remains  of 
the  Blessed  One  equally  into  eight  parts  with  fair  division." 

"Be  it  so,  sir!"  said  Dona,  in  assent,  to  the  assembled 
brethren.  And  he  divided  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One 
equally  into  eight  parts,  with  fair  division.  And  he  said  to 
them :  "  Give  me,  sirs,  this  vessel,  and  I  will  set  up  over  it  a 
sacred  cairn,  and  in  its  honor  will  I  establish  a  feast."  And 
they  gave  the  vessel  to  Dona  the  Brahman. 

And  the  Moriyas  of  Pipphalivana  heard  the  news  that  the 
Blessed  One  had  died  at  Kusinara.  Then  the  Moriyas  of 
Pipphalivana  sent  a  messenger  to  the  Mallas,  saying,  "The 
Blessed  One  belonged  to  the  soldier  caste,  and  we  too  are  of 
the  soldier  caste.  We  are  worthy  to  receive  a  portion  of  the 
relics  of  the  Blessed  One.  Over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed 
One  will  we  put  up  a  sacred  cairn,  and  in  honor  thereof  will  we 
celebrate  a  feast ! "  And  when  they  heard  the  answer,  saying, 
"  There  is  no  portion  of  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One  left 
over.  The  remains  of  the  Blessed  One  are  all  distributed," 
then  they  took  away  the  embers. 

Then  the  king  of  Magadha,  Agatasattu,  the  son  of  the 
queen  of  the  Videha  clan,  made  a  mound  in  Ragagaha  over 
the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One,  and  held  a  feast.  And  the 
Likkhavis  of  Vesali  made  a  mound  in  Vesali  over  the  remains 
of  the  Blessed  One,  and  held  a  feast.  And  the  Bulis  of  Alla- 
kappa  made  a  mound  in  Allakappa  over  the  remains  of  the 
Blessed  One,  and  held  a  feast.  And  the  Koliyas  of  Ramagama 
made  a  mound  in  Ramagama  over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed 
One,  and  held  a  feast.  And  Vethadipaka  the  Brahman  made 


1 8o        THE   FOUNDATION   OF    BUDDHISM 

a  mound  in  Vethadipa  over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One, 
and  held  a  feast.  And  the  Mallas  of  Pava  made  a  mound  in 
Pava  over  the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One,  and  held  a  feast. 
And  the  Mallas  of  Kusinara  made  a  mound  in  Kusinara  over 
the  remains  of  the  Blessed  One,  and  held  a  feast.  And  Dona 
the  Brahman  made  a  mound  over  the  vessel  in  which  the  body 
had  been  burned,  and  held  a  feast.  And  the  Moriyas  of  Pippha- 
livana  made  a  mound  over  the  embers,  and  held  a  feast. 

Thus  were  there  eight  mounds  [Thupas]  for  the  remains, 
and  one  for  the  vessel,  and  one  for  the  embers.  This  was  how 
it  used  to  be.  Eight  measures  of  relics  there  were  of  him  of 
the  far-seeing  eye,  of  the  best  of  the  best  of  men.  In  India 
seven  are  worshipped,  and  one  measure  in  Ramagama,  by  the 
kings  of  the  serpent  race.  One  tooth,  too,  is  honored  in 
heaven,  and  one  in  Gandhara's  city,  one  in  the  Kalinga  realm, 
and  one  more  by  the  Naga  race.  Through  their  glory  the  boun- 
tiful earth  is  made  bright  with  offerings  painless,  for  with 
such  are  the  Great  Teacher's  relics  best  honored  by  those 
who  are  honored,  by  gods  and  by  Nagas  and  kings,  yea,  thus 
by  the  noblest  of  monarchs— bow  down  with  clasped  hands ! 
Hard,  hard  is  a  Buddha  to  meet  with  through  hundreds  of  ages ! 

End  of  the  Book  of  the  Great  Decease 


PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

B.C.  585 

GEORGE  GROTE 

Among  the  leading  features  of  Greek  life,  especially  those  belonging 
to  its  religious  customs  and  observances  none  are  more  characteristic, 
and  none  possess  a  more  attractive  interest  for  the  modern  reader  and 
student  than  the  peculiar  festivals  which  it  was  their  practice  to  hold. 
The  four  great  national  festivals  or  games  were :  The  Olympic,  held 
every  four  years,  in  honor  of  Zeus,  on  the  banks  of  the  Alpheus,  in  Elis ; 
the  Pythian,  celebrated  once  in  four  years,  in  honor  of  Apollo,  at  Delphi ; 
the  Isthmian,  held  every  two  years,  at  the  isthmian  sanctuary  in  the 
Isthmus  of  Corinth,  in  honor  of  Poseidon  (Neptune);  and  the  Nemean, 
celebrated  at  Nemea,  in  the  second  and  fourth  years  of  each  Olympiad, 
in  honor  of  the  Nemean  Juno. 

With  regard  to  the  influence  of  these  games  or  festivals  upon  the 
political  and  social  life  of  Greece,  much  has  been  written  by  historians 
and  special  students  of  the  Grecian  states.  While  the  celebrations  do 
not  appear  to  have  accomplished  much  for  the  political  union  of  Greece, 
they  are  to  be  credited  with  marked  beneficial  effects  in  the  promotion 
of  a  pan-Hellenic  spirit  which,  if  it  failed  to  produce  such  a  union  of  the 
Greek  race,  nevertheless  quickened  and  strengthened  the  common  feel- 
ing of  family  relationship.  Thus  a  sense  of  their  identical  origin  and 
racial  traits  was  kept  alive,  and  the  tendencies  of  Greek  development 
and  culture  preserved  their  essential  character  and  distinction.  By 
means  of  these  periodical  gatherings,  representing  all  parts  of  the  Greek 
world,  not  only  was  friendly  competition  in  every  field  of  talent  and  per- 
formance secured,  but  even  trade  and  commerce  found  through  them 
new  channels  of  activity.  So  in  various  ways  the  national  games  proved 
a  source  of  fresh  energy  and  broader  enterprise  among  the  various 
branches  of  the  Grecian  people.  The  particular  character  and  signifi- 
cance of  the  Pythian  games  at  Delphi,  and  their  relation  to  the  other 
national  festivals,  form  an  interesting  subject  for  study  in  connection 
with  the  general  history  of  Greece. 

\A7HAT  are  called  the  Olympic,  Pythian,  Nemean,  and  Isth- 
mian games  (the  four  most  conspicuous  amid  many  oth- 
ers analogous)  were  in  reality  great  religious  festivals — for  the 
gods  then  gave  their  special  sanction,  name,  and  presence  to 

181 


182  PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

recreative  meetings — the  closest  association  then  prevailed  be- 
tween the  feelings  of  common  worship  and  the  sympathy  in 
common  amusement.  Though  this  association  is  now  no 
longer  recognized,  it  is  nevertheless  essential  that  we  should 
keep  it  fully  before  us  if  we  desire  to  understand  the  life  and 
proceedings  of  the  Greek.  To  Herodotus  and  his  contempo- 
raries these  great  festivals,  then  frequented  by  crowds  from 
every  part  of  Greece,  were  of  overwhelming  importance  and 
interest ;  yet  they  had  once  been  purely  local,  attracting  no 
visitors  except  from  a  very  narrow  neighborhood.  In  the  Ho- 
meric poems  much  is  said  about  the  common  gods,  and  about 
special  places  consecrated  to  and  occupied  by  several  of  them ; 
the  chiefs  celebrate  funeral  games  in  honor  of  a  deceased 
father,  which  are  visited  by  competitors  from  different  parts  of 
Greece,  but  nothing  appears  to  manifest  public  or  town  festi- 
vals open  to  Grecian  visitors  generally.  And  though  the 
rocky  Pytho  with  its  temple  stands  out  in  the  Iliad  as  a 
place  both  venerated  and  rich — the  Pythian  games,  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  Amphictyons,  with  continuous 
enrollment  of  victors  and  a  pan-Hellenic  reputation,  do  not 
begin  until  after  the  Sacred  War,  in  the  48th  Olympiad,  or 
B.C.  586. 

The  Olympic  games,  more  conspicuous  than  the  Pythian  as 
well  as  considerably  older,  are  also  remarkable  on  another 
ground,  inasmuch  as  they  supplied  historical  computers  with  the 
oldest  backward  record  of  continuous  time.  It  was  in  the  year 
B.C.  776  that  the  Eleans  inscribed  the  name  of  their  country- 
man Coroebus  as  victor  in  the  competition  of  runners,  and  that 
they  began  the  practice  of  inscribing  in  like  manner,  in  each 
Olympic  or  fifth  recurring  year,  the  name  of  the  runner  who 
won  the  prize.  Even  for  a  long  time  after  this,  however,  the 
Olympic  games  seem  to  have  remained  a  local  festival ;  the 
prize  being  uniformly  carried  off,  at  the  first  twelve  Olympiads, 
by  some  competitor  either  of  Elis  or  its  immediate  neighbor- 
hood. The  Nemean  and  Isthmian  games  did  not  become  no- 
torious or  frequented  until  later  even  than  the  Pythian.  Solon 
in  his  legislation  proclaimed  the  large  reward  of  500  drams  for 
every  Athenian  who  gained  an  Olympic  prize,  and  the  lower 
sum  of  loo  drams  for  an  Isthmiac  prize.  He  counts  the  former 


PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI  183 

as  pan-Hellenic  rank  and  renown,  an  ornament  even  to  the  city 
of  which  the  victor  was  a  member — the  latter  as  partial  and 
confined  to  the  neighborhood. 

Of  the  beginnings  of  these  great  solemnities  we  cannot  pre- 
sume to  speak,  except  in  mythical  language ;  we  know  them 
only  in  their  comparative  maturity.  But  the  habit  of  common 
sacrifice,  on  a  small  scale  and  between  near  neighbors,  is  a  part 
of  the  earliest  habits  of  Greece.  The  sentiment  of  fraternity, 
between  two  tribes  or  villages,  first  manifested  itself  by  sending 
a  sacred  legation  or  Theoria  to  offer  sacrifices  to  each  other's 
festivals  and  to  partake  in  the  recreations  which  followed; 
thus  establishing  a  truce  with  solemn  guarantee,  and  bringing 
themselves  into  direct  connexion  each  with  the  god  of  the 
other  under  his  appropriate  local  surname.  The  pacific  com- 
munion so  fostered,  and  the  increased  asssurance  of  intercourse, 
as  Greece  gradually  emerged  from  the  turbulence  and  pugnac- 
ity of  the  heroic  age,  operated  especially  in  extending  the  range 
of  this  ancient  habit :  the  village  festivals  became  town  festi- 
vals, largely  frequented  by  the  citizens  of  other  towns,  and 
sometimes  with  special  invitations  sent  round  to  attract  Theors 
from  every  Hellenic  community — and  thus  these  once  humble 
assemblages  gradually  swelled  into  the  pomp  and  immense  con- 
fluence of  the  Olympic  and  Pythian  games.  The  city  adminis- 
tering such  holy  ceremonies  enjoyed  inviolability  of  territory 
during  the  month  of  their  occurrence,  being  itself  under  obli- 
gation at  that  time  to  refrain  from  all  aggression,  as  well  as  to 
notify  by  heralds  the  commencement  of  the  truce  to  all  other 
cities  not  in  avowed  hostility  with  it  Elis  imposed  heavy 
fines  upon  other  towns — evert  on  the  powerful  Lacedasmon — 
for  violation  of  the  Olympic  truce,  on  pain  of  exclusion  from 
the  festival  in  case  of  non-payment. 

Sometimes  this  tendency  to  religious  fraternity  took  a  form 
called  an  Ampkictyony,  different  from  the  common  festival. 
A  certain  number  of  towns  entered  into  an  exclusive  religious 
partnership  for  the  celebration  of  sacrifices  periodically  to  the 
god  of  a  particular  temple,  which  was  supposed  to  be  the  com- 
mon property  and  under  the  common  protection  of  all,  though 
one  of  the  number  was  often  named  as  permanent  administra- 
tor; while  all  other  Greeks  were  excluded.  That  there  were 


184  PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

many  religious  partnerships  of  this  sort,  which  have  never  ac- 
quired a  place  in  history,  among  the  early  Grecian  villages,  we 
may  perhaps  gather  from  the  etymology  of  the  word  Am 
phictyons — designating  residents  around,  or  neighbors,  consid- 
ered in  the  point  of  view  of  fellow-religionists — as  well  as  from 
the  indications  preserved  to  us  in  reference  to  various  parts  of 
the  country.  Thus  there  was  an  Amphictyony  of  seven  cities 
at  the  holy  island  of  Caluria,  close  to  the  harbor  of  Trcezen. 
Hermione,  Epidaurus,  ^gina,  Athens,  Prasiae,  Nauplia,  and 
Orchomenus,  jointly  maintained  the  temple  and  sanctuary  of 
Poseidon  in  that  island — with  which  it  would  seem  that  the  city 
of  Trcezen,  though  close  at  hand,  had  no  connection — meeting 
there  at  stated  periods,  to  offer  formal  sacrifices.  These  seven 
cities  indeed  were  not  immediate  neighbors,  but  the  speciality 
and  exclusiveness  of  their  interest  in  the  temple  is  seen  from 
the  fact  that  when  the  Argians  took  Nauplia,  they  adopted 
and  fulfilled  these  religious  obligations  on  behalf  of  the  prior 
inhabitants:  so  also  did  the  Lacedaemonians  when  they  had 
captured  Prasiae.  Again,  in  Triphylia,  situated  between  the 
Pisatid  and  Messenia  in  the  western  part  of  Peloponnesus, 
there  was  a  similar  religious  meeting  and  partnership  of  the 
Triphylians  on  Cape  Samicon,  at  the  temple  of  the  Samian 
Poseidon.  Here  the  inhabitants  of  Maciston  were  intrusted 
with  the  details  of  superintendence,  as  well  as  with  the  duty 
of  notifying  beforehand  the  exact  time  of  meeting  (a  precau- 
tion essential  amidst  the  diversities  and  irregularities  of  the 
Greek  calendar)  and  also  of  proclaiming  what  was  called  the 
Samian  truce — a  temporary  abstinence  from  hostilities  which 
bound  all  Triphylians  during  the  holy  period.  This  latter  cus- 
tom discloses  the  salutary  influence  of  such  institutions  in 
presenting  to  men's  minds  a  common  object  of  reverence,  com- 
mon duties,  and  common  enjoyments;  thus  generating  sympa- 
thies and  feelings  of  mutual  obligation  amid  petty  communi- 
ties not  less  fierce  than  suspicious.  So,  too,  the  twelve  chief 
Ionic  cities  in  and  near  Asia  Minor  had  their  pan-Ionic  Am- 
phictyony peculiar  to  themselves :  the  six  Doric  cities,  in  and 
near  the  southern  corner  of  that  peninsula,  combined  for  the 
like  purpose  at  the  temple  of  the  Triopian  Apollo,  and  the 
feeling  of  special  partnership  is  here  particularly  illustrated  by 


PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI  185 

the  fact  that  Halicarnassus,  one  of  the  six,  was  formally  ex- 
truded by  the  remaining  five  in  consequence  of  a  violation  of 
the  rules.  There  was  also  an  Amphictyonic  union  at  Onches- 
tus  in  Bceotia,  in  the  venerated  grove  and  temple  at  Poseidon : 
of  whom  it  consisted  we  are  not  informed.  There  are  some 
specimens  of  the  sort  of  special  religious  conventions  and  as- 
semblies which  seem  to  have  been  frequent  throughout  Greece. 
Nor  ought  we  to  omit  those  religious  meetings  and  sacrifices 
which  were  common  to  all  the  members  of  one  Hellenic  subdi- 
vision, such  as  the  pan-Boeotia  to  all  the  Boeotians,  celebrated 
at  the  temple  of  the  Ionian  Athene  near  Coroneia ;  the  com- 
mon observances,  rendered  to  the  temple  of  Apollo  Pythaeus 
at  Argos,  by  all  those  neighboring  towns  which  had  once  been 
attached  by  this  religious  thread  to  the  Argian;  the  similar 
periodical  ceremonies,  frequented  by  all  who  bore  the  Achaean 
or  yEtolian  name ;  and  the  splendid  and  exhilarating  festivals, 
so  favorable  to  the  diffusion  of  the  early  Grecian  poetry,  which 
brought  all  lonians  at  stated  intervals  to  the  sacred  island  of 
Delos.  This  later  class  of  festivals  agreed  with  the  Amphic- 
tyony  in  being  of  a  special  and  exclusive  character,  not  open  to 
all  Greeks. 

But  there  was  one  among  these  many  Amphictyonies, 
which,  though  starting  from  the  smallest  beginnings,  gradually 
expanded  into  so  comprehensive  a  character,  had  acquired  so 
marked  a  predominance  over  the  rest,  as  to  be  called  the  "  Am- 
phictyonic assembly, "and  even  to  have  been  mistaken  by  some 
authors  for  a  sort  of  federal  Hellenic  diet.  Twelve  sub-races, 
out  of  the  number  which  made  up  entire  Hellas,  belonged  to 
this  ancient  Amphictyony,  the  meetings  of  which  were  -held 
twice  in  every  year :  in  spring  at  the  temple  of  Apollo  at  Del- 
phi ;  in  autumn  at  Thermopylae,  in  the  sacred  precinct  of  De- 
meter  Amphictyonis.  Sacred  deputies,  including  a  chief  called 
the  Hieromnemon  and  subordinates  called  the  Pylagorce,  at- 
tended at  these  meetings  from  each  of  the  twelve  races:  a 
crowd  of  volunteers  seem  to  have  accompanied  them,  for  pur- 
poses of  sacrifice,  trade,  or  enjoyment.  Their  special,  and 
most  important,  function  consisted  in  watching  over  the  Del- 
phian temple,  in  which  all  the  twelve  sub-races  had  a  joint  in- 
terest, and  it  was  the  immense  wealth  and  national  ascendency 


1 86  PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT   DELPHI 

of  this  temple  which  enhanced  to  so  great  a  pitch  the  dignity 
of  its  acknowledged  administrators. 

The  twelve  constituent  members  were  as  follows :  Thessa- 
lians,  Boeotians,  Dorians,  lonians,  Perrhaebians,  Magnetes, 
Locrians,  CEtaeans,  Achaeans,  Phocians,  Dolopes,  and  Malians. 
All  are  counted  as  races  (if  we  treat  the  Hellenes  as  a  race,  we 
must  call  these  sub-races),  no  mention  being  made  of  cities :  all 
count  equally  in  respect  to  voting,  two  votes  being  given  by 
the  deputies  from  each  of  the  twelve :  moreover,  we  are  told 
that  in  determining  the  deputies  to  be  sent  or  the  manner  in 
which  the  votes  of  each  race  should  be  given,  the  powerful 
Athens,  Sparta,  and  Thebes  had  no  more  influence  than  the 
humblest  Ionian,  Dorian,  or  Boeotian  city.  This  latter  fact  is 
distinctly  stated  by  y£schines,  himself  a  Pylagore  sent  to  Del- 
phi by  Athens.  And  so,  doubtless,  the  theory  of  the  case 
stood :  the  votes  of  the  Ionic  races  counted  for  neither  more 
nor  less  than  two,  whether  given  by  deputies  from  Athens,  or 
from  the  small  towns  of  Erythras  and  Priene ;  and  in  like  man- 
ner the  Dorian  votes  were  as  good  in  the  division,  when  given 
by  deputies  from  Bceon  and  Cytinion  in  the  little  territory  of 
Doris,  as  if  the  men  delivering  them  had  been  Spartans.  But 
there  can  be  as  little  question  that  in  practice  the  little  Ionic 
cities  and  the  little  Doric  cities  pretended  to  no  share  in  the 
Amphictyonic  deliberations.  As  the  Ionic  vote  came  to  be 
substantially  the  vote  of  Athens,  so,  if  Sparta  was  ever  ob- 
structed in  the  management  of  the  Doric  vote,  it  must  have 
been  by  powerful  Doric  cities  like  Argos  or  Corinth,  not  by 
the  insignificant  towns  of  Doris.  But  the  theory  of  Amphicty- 
onic suffrage  as  laid  down  by  ^Eschines,  however  little  realized 
in  practice  during  his  day,  is  important  inasmuch  as  it  shows 
in  full  evidence  the  primitive  and  original  constitution.  The 
first  establishment  of  the  Amphictyonic  convocation  dates 
from  a  time  when  all  the  twelve  members  were  on  a  footing  of 
equal  independence,  and  when  there  were  no  overwhelming 
cities — such  as  Sparta  and  Athens — to  cast  in  the  shade  the 
humbler  members ;  when  Sparta  was  only  one  Doric  city,  and 
Athens  only  one  Ionic  city,  among  various  others  of  considera- 
tion not  much  inferior. 

There  are  also  other  proofs  which  show  the  high  antiquity 


PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI  187 

of  this  Amphictyonic  convocation.  ^Eschines  gives  us  an  ex- 
tract from  the  oath  which  had  been  taken  by  the  sacred  depu- 
ties who  attended  on  behalf  of  their  respective  races,  ever  since 
its  first  establishment,  and  which  still  apparently  continued  to 
be  taken  in  his  day.  The  antique  simplicity  of  this  oath,  and 
of  the  conditions  to  which  the  members  bind  themselves,  be- 
trays the  early  age  in  which  it  originated,  as  well  as  the  hum- 
ble resources  of  those  towns  to  which  it  was  applied.  "  We 
will  not  destroy  any  Amphictyonic  town — we  will  not  cut  off 
any  Amphictyonic  town  from  running  water " — such  are  the 
two  prominent  obligations  which  ^Eschines  specifies  out  of  the 
old  oath.  The  second  of  the  two  carries  us  back  to  the  sim- 
plest state  of  society,  and  to  towns  of  the  smallest  size,  when 
the  maidens  went  out  with  their  basins  to  fetch  water  from  the 
spring,  like  the  daughters  of  Celeos  at  Eleusis,  or  those  of 
Athens  from  the  fountain  Callirrhoe.  We  may  even  conceive 
that  the  special  mention  of  this  detail,  in  the  covenant  between 
the  twelve  races,  is  borrowed  literally  from  agreements  still 
earlier,  among  the  villages  or  little  towns  in  which  the  mem- 
bers of  each  race  were  distributed.  At  any  rate,  it  proves  sat- 
isfactorily the  very  ancient  date  to  which  the  commencement 
of  the  Amphictyonic  convocations  must  be  referred.  The  be- 
lief of  ^Eschines  (perhaps  also  the  belief  general  in  his  time) 
was,  that  it  commenced  simultaneously  with  the  first  founda- 
tion of  the  Delphian  temple — an  event  of  which  we  have  no 
historical  knowledge ;  but  there  seems  reason  to  suppose  that 
its  original  establishment  is  connected  with  Thermopylae  and 
Demeter  Amphictyonia,  rather  than  with  Delphi  and  Apollo. 
The  special  surname  by  which  Demeter  and  her  temple  at 
Thermopylae  was  known — the  temple  of  the  hero  Amphictyon 
which  stood  at  its  side — the  word  Pyl&a,  which  obtained  foot- 
ing in  the  language  to  designate  the  half-yearly  meeting  of  .the 
deputies  both  at  Thermopylae  and  at  Delphi — these  indications 
point  to  Thermopylae  (the  real  central  point  for  all  the  twelve) 
as  the  primary  place  of  meeting,  and  to  the  Delphian  half-year 
as  something  secondary  and  superadded.  On  such  a  matter, 
however,  we  cannot  go  beyond  a  conjecture. 

The  hero  Amphictyon,  whose  temple  stood  at  Thermopylae, 
passed  in  mythical  genealogy  for  the  brother  of  Hellen.     And 


i88  PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

it  may  be  affirmed,  with  truth,  that  the  habit  of  forming  Am- 
phictyonic  unions,  and  of  frequenting  each  other's  religious 
festivals,  was  the  great  means  of  creating  and  fostering  the 
primitive  feeling  of  brotherhood  among  the  children  of  Hellen, 
in  those  early  times  when  rudeness,  insecurity,  and  pugnacity 
did  so  much  to  isolate  them.  A  certain  number  of  salutary 
habits  and  sentiments,  such  as  that  which  the  Amphictyonic 
oath  embodies,  in  regard  to  abstinence  from  injury  as  well  as 
to  mutual  protection,  gradually  found  their  way  into  men's 
minds :  the  obligations  thus  brought  into  play  acquired  a  sub- 
stantive efficacy  of  their  own,  and  the  religious  feeling  which 
always  remained  connected  with  them,  came  afterward  to  be 
only  one  out  of  many  complex  agencies  by  which  the  later  his- 
torical Greek  was  moved.  Athens  and  Sparta  in  the  days  of 
their  might,  and  the  inferior  cities  in  relation  to  them,  played 
each  their  own  political  game,  in  which  religious  considerations 
will  be  found  to  bear  only  a  subordinate  part. 

The  special  function  of  the  Amphictyonic  council,  so  far  as 
we  know  it,  consisted  in  watching  over  the  safety,  the  inter- 
ests, and  the  treasures  of  the  Delphian  temple.  "  If  any  one 
shall  plunder  the  property  of  the  god,  or  shall  be  cognizant 
thereof,  or  shall  take  treacherous  counsel  against  the  things  in 
the  temple,  we  will  punish  him  with  foot,  and  hand,  and  voice, 
and  by  every  means  in  our  power."  So  ran  the  old  Amphicty- 
onic oath,  with  an  energetic  imprecation  attached  to  it.  And 
there  are  some  examples  in  which  the  council  constitutes  its 
functions 'so  largely  as  to  receive  and  adjudicate  upon  com- 
plaints against  entire  cities,  for  offences  against  the  religious 
and  patriotic  sentiment  of  the  Greeks  generally.  But  for  the 
most  part  its  interference  relates  directly  to  the  Delphian  tem- 
ple. The  earliest  case  in  which  it  is  brought  to  our  view  is  the 
Sacred  War  against  Cirrha,  in  the  46th  Olympiad  or  B.C.  595, 
conducted  by  Eurolychus  the  Thessalian,  and  Clisthenes  of 
Sicyon,  and  proposed  by  Solon  of  Athens :  we  find  the  Am- 
phictyons  also  about  half  a  century  afterward  undertaking  the 
duty  of  collecting  subscriptions  throughout  the  Hellenic  world, 
and  making  the  contract  with  the  Alcmaeonids  for  rebuilding 
the  temple  after  a  conflagration.  But  the  influence  of  this 
council  is  essentially  of  a  fluctuating  and  intermittent  charac- 


PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI  189 

ter.  Sometimes  it  appears  forward  to  decide,  and  its  deci- 
sions command  respect;  but  such  occasions  are  rare,  taking 
the  general  course  of  known  Grecian  history ;  while  there  are 
other  occasions,  and  those  too  especially  affecting  the  Delphian 
temple,  on  which  we  are  surprised  to  find  nothing  said  about 
it.  In  the  long  and  perturbed  period  which  Thucydides  de- 
scribes, he  never  once  mentions  the  Amphictyons,  though  the 
temple  and  the  safety  of  its  treasures  form  the  repeated  sub- 
ject as  well  of  dispute  as  of  express  stipulation  between  Ath- 
ens and  Sparta.  Moreover,  among  the  twelve  constituent 
members  of  the  council,  we  find  three — the  Perrhsebians,  the 
Magnetes,  and  the  Achaeans  of  Phthia — who  were  not  even  in- 
dependent, but  subject  to  the  Thessalians ;  so  that  its  meet- 
ings, when  they  were  not  matters  of  mere  form,  probably  ex- 
pressed only  the  feelings  of  the  three  or  four  leading  mem- 
bers. When  one  or  more  of  these  great  powers  had  a  party 
purpose  to  accomplish  against  others — when  Philip  of  Macedon 
wished  to  extrude  one  of  the  members  in  order  to  procure  ad- 
mission for  himself — it  became  convenient  to  turn  this  ancient 
form  into  a  serious  reality ;  and  we  shall  see  the  Athenian  ALs- 
chines  providing  a  pretext  for  Philip  to  meddle  in  favor  of  the 
minor  Boeotian  cities  against  Thebes,  by  alleging  that  these 
cities  were  under  the  protection  of  the  old  Amphictyonic  oath. 
It  is  thus  that  we  have  to  consider  the  council  as  an  ele- 
ment in  Grecian  affairs — an  ancient  institution,  one  among 
many  instances  of  the  primitive  habit  of  religious  fraterniza- 
tion, but  wider  and  more  comprehensive  than  the  rest ;  at  first 
purely  religious,  then  religious  and  political  at  once,  lastly 
more  the  latter  than  the  former ;  highly  valuable  in  the  infancy, 
but  unsuited  to  the  maturity  of  Greece,  and  called  into  real 
working  only  on  rare  occasions,  when  its  efficiency  happened 
to  fall  in  with  the  views  of  Athens,  Thebes,  or  the  king  of 
Macedon.  In  such  special  moments  it  shines  with  a  transient 
light  which  affords  a  partial  pretense  for  the  imposing  title 
bestowed  on  it  by  Cicero — commune  Gr&cice  concilium  ;  but  we 
should  completely  misinterpret  Grecian  history  if  we  regarded 
it  as  a  federal  council  habitually  directed  or  habitually  obeyed. 
Had  there  existed  any  such  "  commune  concilium  "  of  tolerable 
wisdom  and  patriotism,  and  had  the  tendencies  of  the  Hellenic 


IQO  PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

mind  been  capable  of  adapting  themselves  to  it,  the  whole 
course  of  later  Grecian  history  would  probably  have  been 
altered ;  the  Macedonian  kings  would  have  remained  only  as 
respectable  neighbors,  borrowing  civilization  from  Greece  and 
expending  their  military  energies  upon  Thracians  and  Illyrians ; 
while  united  Hellas  might  even  have  maintained  her  own  terri- 
tory against  the  conquering  legions  of  Rome. 

The  twelve  constituent  Amphictyonic  races  remained  un- 
changed until  the  Sacred  War  against  the  Phocians  (B.C.  355), 
after  which,  though  the  number  twelve  was  continued,  the 
Phocians  were  disfranchised,  and  their  votes  transferred  to 
Philip  of  Macedon.  It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  these 
twelve  did  not  exhaust  the  whole  of  Hellas.  Arcadians,  Ele- 
ans,  Pisans,  Minyae,  Dryopes,  JEtolians,  all  genuine  Hellenes, 
are  not  comprehended  in  it ;  but  all  of  them  had  a  right  to 
make  use  of  the  temple  of  Delphi,  and  to  contend  in  the  Pyth- 
ian and  Olympic  games.  The  Pythian  games,  celebrated  near 
Delphi,  were  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Amphictyons, 
or  of  some  acting  magistrate  chosen  by  and  presumed  to  repre- 
sent them.  Like  the  Olympic  games,  they  came  round  every 
four  years  (the  interval  between  one  celebration  and  another 
being  four  complete  years,  which  the  Greeks  called  a  Pentce- 
tetis):  the  Isthmian  and  Nemean  games  recurred  every  two 
years.  In  its  first  humble  form  a  competition  among  bards  to 
sing  a  hymn  in  praise  of  Apollo,  this  festival  was  doubtless  of 
immemorial  antiquity;  but  the  first  extension  of  it  into  pan- 
Hellenic  notoriety  (as  I  have  already  remarked),  the  first  mul- 
tiplication of  the  subjects  of  competition,  and  the  first  intro- 
duction of  a  continuous  record  of  the  conquerors,  date  only 
from  the  time  when  it  came  under  the  presidency  of  the  Am- 
phictyon,  at  the  close  of  the  Sacred  War  against  Cirrha  What 
is  called  the  first  Pythian  contest  coincides  with  the  third  year 
of  the  48th  Olympiad,  or  B.C.  585.  From  that  period  forward 
the  games  become  crowded  and  celebrated :  but  the  date  just 
named,  nearly  two  centuries  after  the  first  Olympiad,  is  a  proof 
that  the  habit  of  periodical  frequentation  of  festivals,  by  num« 
bers  and  from  distant  parts,  grew  up  but  slowly  in  the  Grecian 
world. 

The  foundation  of  the  temple  of  Delphi  itself  reaches  fan 


PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI  191 

beyond  all  historical  knowledge,  forming  one  of  the  aboriginal 
institutions  of  Hellas.  It  is  a  sanctified  and  wealthy  place 
even  in  the  Iliad ;  the  legislation  of  Lycurgus  at  Sparta  is  in- 
troduced under  its  auspices,  and  the  earliest  Grecian  colonies, 
those  of  Sicily  and  Italy  in  the  eighth  century  B.C.,  are  estab- 
lished in  consonance  with  its  mandate.  Delphi  and  Dodona 
appear,  in  the  most  ancient  circumstances  of  Greece,  as  uni- 
versally venerated  oracles  and  sanctuaries:  and  Delphi  not 
only  receives  honors  and  donations,  but  also  answers  questions 
from  Lydians,  Phrygians,  Etruscans,  Romans,  etc. :  it  is  not 
exclusively  Hellenic.  One  of  the  valuable  services  which  a 
Greek  looked  for  from  this  and  other  great  religious  establish- 
ments was,  that  it  should  resolve  his  doubts  in  cases  of  per- 
plexity ;  that  it  should  advise  him  whether  to  begin  a  new,  or 
to  persist  in  an  old  project ;  that  it  should  foretell  what  would 
be  his  fate  under  given  circumstances,  and  inform  him,  it  suf- 
fering under  distress,  on  what  conditions  the  gods  would  grant 
him  relief. 

The  three  priestesses  of  Dodona  with  their  venerable  oak, 
and  the  priestess  of  Delphi  sitting  on  her  tripod  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  certain  gas  or  vapor  exhaling  from  the  rock,  were 
alike  competent  to  determine  these  difficult  points:  and  we 
shall  have  constant  occasion  to  notice  in  this  history  with  what 
complete  faith  both  the  question  was  put  and  the  answer  treas- 
ured up — what  serious  influence  it  often  exercised  both  upon 
public  and  private  proceeding.  The  hexameter  verses  in  which 
the  Pythian  priestess  delivered  herself  were  indeed  often  so 
equivocal  or  unintelligible,  that  the  most  serious  believer,  with 
all  anxiety  to  interpret  and  obey  them,  often  found  himself 
ruined  by  the  result.  Yet  the  general  faith  in  the  oracle  was 
no  way  shaken  by  such  painful  experience.  For  as  the  unfor- 
tunate issue  always  admitted  of  being  explained  upon  two  hy- 
potheses— either  that  the  god  had  spoken  falsely,  or  that  his 
meaning  had  not  been  correctly  understood — no  man  of  genu- 
ine piety  ever  hesitated  to  adopt  the  latter.  There  were  many 
other  oracles  throughout  Greece  besides  Delphi  and  Dodona ; 
Apollo  was  open  to  the  inquiries  of  the  faithful  at  Ptoon  in 
Boeotia,  at  Abae  in  Phocis,  at  Branchidae  near  Miletus,  at  Pa- 
tara  in  Lycia,  and  other  places :  in  like  manner,  Zeus  gave 


192  PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

answers  at  Olympia,  Poseidon  at  Taenarus,  Amphiaraus  at 
Thebes,  Amphilochus  at  Mallus,  etc.  And  this  habit  of  con- 
sulting the  oracle  formed  part  of  the  still  more  general  ten- 
dency of  the  Greek  mind  to  undertake  no  enterprise  without 
having  first  ascertained  how  the  gods  viewed  it,  and  what  meas- 
ures they  were  likely  to  take.  Sacrifices  were  offered,  and  the 
interior  of  the  victim  carefully  examined,  with  the  same  intent : 
omens,  prodigies,  unlooked-for  coincidences,  casual  expres- 
sions, etc.,  were  all  construed  as  significant  of  the  divine  will. 
To  sacrifice  with  a  view  to  this  or  that  undertaking,  or  to  con- 
sult the  oracle  with  the  same  view,  are  familiar  expressions 
embodied  in  the  language.  Nor  could  any  man  set  about  a 
scheme  with  comfort  until  he  had  satisfied  himself  in  some 
manner  or  other  that  the  gods  were  favorable  to  it. 

The  disposition  here  adverted  to  is  one  of  these  mental 
analogies  pervading  the  whole  Hellenic  nation,  which  Herodo- 
tus indicates.  And  the  common  habit  among  all  Greeks  of 
respectfully  listening  to  the  oracle  of  Delphi  will  be  found  on 
many  occasions  useful  in  maintaining  unanimity  among  men 
not  accustomed  to  obey  the  same  political  superior.  In  the 
numerous  colonies  especially,  founded  by  mixed  multitudes 
from  distant  parts  of  Greece,  the  minds  of  the  emigrants  were 
greatly  determined  toward  cordial  cooperation  by  their  knowl- 
edge that  the  expedition  had  been  directed,  the  cecist  indi- 
cated, and  the  spot  either  chosen  or  approved  by  Apollo  of 
Delphi.  Such  in  most  cases  was  the  fact :  that  god,  according 
to  the  conception  of  the  Greeks,  "  takes  delight  always  in  the 
foundation  of  new  cities,  and  himself  in  person  lays  the  first 
stone." 

These  are  the  elements  of  union  with  which  the  historical 
Hellenes  take  their  start :  community  of  blood,  language,  relig- 
ious point  of  view,  legends,  sacrifices,  festivals,  and  also  (with 
certain  allowances)  of  manners  and  character.  The  analogy 
of  manners  and  character  between  the  rude  inhabitants  of  the 
Arcadian  Cynsetha  and  the  polite  Athens,  was,  indeed,  accom- 
panied with  wide  differences ;  yet  if  we  compare  the  two  with 
foreign  contemporaries,  we  shall  find  certain  negative  charac- 
teristics of  much  importance  common  to  both.  In  no  city  of 
historical  Greece  did  there  prevail  either  human  sacrifices  or 


PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI  193 

deliberate  mutilation,  such  as  cutting  off  the  nose,  ears,  hands, 
feet,  etc. ;  or  castration ;  or  selling  of  children  into  slavery ;  or 
polygamy ;  or  the  feeling  of  unlimited  obedience  toward  one 
man:  all  customs  which  might  be  pointed  out  as  existing 
among  the  contemporary  Carthaginians,  Egyptians,  Persians, 
Thracians,  etc.  The  habit  of  running,  wrestling,  boxing,  etc., 
in  gymnastic  contests,  with  the  body  perfectly  naked,  was 
common  to  all  Greeks,  having  been  first  adopted  as  a  Laceda2- 
monian  fashion  in  the  fourteenth  Olympiad :  Thucydides  and 
Herodotus  remark  that  it  was  not  only  not  practised,  but 
even  regarded  as  unseemly,  among  non-Hellenes.  Of  such 
customs,  indeed,  at  once  common  to  all  the  Greeks,  and 
peculiar  to  them  as  distinguished  from  others,  we  cannot 
specify  a  great  number,  but  we  may  see  enough  to  convince 
ourselves  that  there  did  really  exist,  in  spite  of  local  differ- 
ences, a  general  Hellenic  sentiment  and  character,  which 
counted  among  the  cementing  causes  of  a  union  apparently  so 
little  assured. 

During  the  two  centuries  succeeding  B.C.  776,  the  festival 
of  the  Olympic  Zeus  in  the  Pisatid  gradually  passed  from  a 
local  to  a  national  character,  and  acquired  an  attractive  force 
capable  of  bringing  together  into  temporary  union  the  dispersed 
fragments  of  Hellas,  from  Marseilles  to  Trebizond.  In  this 
important  function  it  did  not  long  stand  alone.  During  the 
sixth  century  B.C.,  three  other  festivals,  at  first  local,  became 
successively  nationalized — the  Pythia  near  Delphi,  the  Isthmia 
near  Corinth,  the  Nemea  near  Cleone,  between  Sicyon  and 
Argos. 

In  regard  to  the  Pythian  festival,  we  find  a  short  notice  of 
the  particular  incidents  and  individuals  by  whom  its  reconstitu- 
tion  and  enlargement  were  brought  about — a  notice  the  more 
interesting  inasmuch  as  these  very  incidents  are  themselves  a 
manifestation  of  something  like  pan-Hellenic  patriotism,  stand- 
ing almost  alone  in  an  age  which  presents  little  else  in  opera- 
tion except  distinct  city  interests.  At  the  time  when  the  Ho- 
meric Hymn  to  the  Delphinian  Apollo  was  composed  (probably 
in  the  seventh  century  B.C),  the  Pythian  festival  had  as  yet 
acquired  little  eminence.  The  rich  and  holy  temple  of  Apollo 
was  then  purely  oracular,  established  for  the  purpose  of  com« 
E.,  VOL.  i. — 13 


194  PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

municating  to  pious  inquirers  "  the  counsels  of  the  Immortals.'' 
Multitudes  of  visitors  came  to  consult  it,  as  well  as  to  sacrifice 
victims  and  to  deposit  costly  offerings ;  but  while  the  god  de- 
lighted in  the  sound  of  the  harp  as  an  accompaniment  to  the 
singing  of  paeans,  he  was  by  no  means  anxious  to  encourage 
horse-races  and  chariot-races  in  the  neighborhood.  Nay,  this 
psalmist  considers  that  the  noise  of  horses  would  be  "  a  nui- 
sance," the  drinking  of  mules  a  desecration  to  the  sacred 
fountains,  and  the  ostentation  of  fine-built  chariots  objection- 
able, as  tending  to  divert  the  attention  of  spectators  away  from 
the  great  temple  and  its  wealth.  From  such  inconveniences 
the  god  was  protected  by  placing  his  sanctuary  "  in  the  rocky 
Pytho  " — a  rugged  and  uneven  recess,  of  no  great  dimensions, 
embosomed  in  the  southern  declivity  of  Parnassus,  and  about 
two  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  while  the  topmost 
Parnassian  summits  reach  a  height  of  near  eight  thousand 
feet.  The  situation  was  extremely  imposing,  but  unsuited  by 
nature  for  the  congregation  of  any  considerable  number  of 
spectators;  altogether  impracticable  for  chariot-races;  and 
only  rendered  practicable  by  later  art  and  outlay  for  the  theatre 
as  well  as  for  the  stadium.  Such  a  site  furnished  little  means 
of  subsistence,  but  the  sacrifices  and  presents  of  visitors  ena- 
bled the  ministers  of  the  temple  to  live  in  abundance,  and  gath- 
ered together  by  degrees  a  village  around  it. 

Near  the  sanctuary  of  Pytho,  and  about  the  same  altitude, 
was  situated  the  ancient  Phocian  town  of  Crissa,  on  a  project- 
ing spur  of  Parnassus — overhung  above  by  the  line  of  rocky 
precipice  called  the  Phasdriades,  and  itself  overhanging  below 
the  deep  ravine  through  which  flows  the  river  Peistus.  On  the 
other  side  of  this  river  rises  the  steep  mountain  Cirphis,  which 
projects  southward  into  the  Corinthian  gulf — the  river  reach- 
ing that  gulf  through  the  broad  Crisscean  plain,  which  stretches 
westward  nearly  to  the  Locrian  town  of  Amphissa ;  a  plain  for 
the  most  part  fertile  and  productive,  though  least  so  in  its  east- 
ern part  immediately  under  the  Cirphis,  where  the  seaport  Cir- 
rha  was  placed.  The  temple,  the  oracle,  and  the  wealth  of 
Pytho,  belong  to  the  very  earliest  periods  of  Grecian  antiquity. 
But  the  octennial  solemnity  in  honor  of  the  god  included  at 
first  no  other  competition  except  that  of  bards,  who  sang  each 


PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI  195 

a  paean  with  the  harp.  The  Amphictyonic  assembly  held  one 
of  its  half-yearly  meetings  near  the  temple  of  Pytho,  the  other 
at  Thermopylae. 

In  those  early  times  when  the  Homeric  Hymn  to  Apollo 
was  composed,  the  town  of  Crissa  appears  to  have  been  great 
and  powerful,  possessing  all  the  broad  plain  between  Parnas- 
sus, Cirphis,  and  the  gulf,  to  which  latter  it  gave  its  name — 
and  possessing  also,  what  was  a  property  not  less  valuable,  the 
adjoining  sanctuary  of  Pytho  itself,  which  the  Hymn  identifies 
with  Crissa,  not  indicating  Delphi  as  a  separate  place.  The 
Crissaeans  doubtless  derived  great  profits  from  the  number  of 
visitors  who  came  to  visit  Delphi,  both  by  land  and  by  sea,  and 
Cirrha  was  originally  only  the  name  for  their  seaport.  Gradu- 
ally, however,  the  port  appears  to  have  grown  in  importance  at 
the  expense  of  the  town,  just  as  Apollonia  and  Ptolemais  came 
to  equal  Cyrene  and  Barca,  and  as  Plymouth  Dock  has  swelled 
into  Devonport ;  while  at  the  same  time  the  sanctuary  of  Pytho 
with  its  administrators  expanded  into  the  town  of  Delphi,  and 
came  to  claim  an  independent  existence  of  its  own.  The  origi- 
nal relations  between  Crissa,  Cirrha,  and  Delphi,  were  in  this 
manner  at  length  subverted,  the  first  declining  and  the  two 
latter  rising.  The  Crissaeans  found  themselves  dispossessed 
of  the  management  of  the  temple,  which  passed  to  the  Del' 
phians;  as  well  as  of  the  profits  arising  from  the  visitors, 
whose  disbursements  went  to  enrich  the  inhabitants  of  Cirrha. 
Crissa  was  a  primitive  city  of  the  Phocian  name,  and  could 
boast  of  a  place  as  such  in  the  Homeric  Catalogue,  so  that  her 
loss  of  importance  was  not  likely  to  be  quietly  endured. 
Moreover,  in  addition  to  the  above  facts,  already  sufficient  in 
themselves  as  seeds  of  quarrel,  we  are  told  that  the  Cirrhaeans 
abused  their  position  as  masters  of  the  avenue  to  the  temple 
by  sea,  and  levied  exorbitant  tolls  on  the  visitors  who  landed 
there — a  number  constantly  increasing  from  the  multiplication 
of  the  transmarine  colonies,  and  from  the  prosperity  of  those 
in  Italy  and  Sicily.  Besides  such  offence  against  the  general 
Grecian  public,  they  had  also  incurred  the  enmity  of  their  Pho- 
cian neighbors  by  outrages  upon  women,  Phocian  as  well  as 
Argian,  who  were  returning  from  the  temple. 

Thus  stood  the  case,  apparently,  about  B.C.  595,  when  the 


106  PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

Amphictyonic  meeting  interfered — either  prompted  by  the 
Phocians,  or  perhaps  on  their  own  spontaneous  impulse,  out  of 
regard  to  the  temple — to  punish  the  Cirrhaeans,  After  a  war 
of  ten  years,  the  first  sacred  war  in  Greece,  this  object  was 
completely  accomplished  by  a  joint  force  of  Thessalians  under 
Eurolychus,  Sicyonians  under  Clisthenes,  and  Athenians 
under  Alcmseon ;  the  Athenian  Solon  being  the  person  who 
originated  and  enforced  in  the  Amphictyonic  council  the  prop- 
osition of  interference.  Cirrha  appears  to  have  made  a  strenu- 
ous resistance  until  its  supplies  from  the  sea  were  intercepted 
by  the  naval  force  of  the  Sicyonian  Clisthenes.  Even  after 
the  town  was  taken,  its  inhabitants  defended  themselves  for 
some  time  on  the  heights  of  Cirphis.  At  length,  however, 
they  were  thoroughly  subdued.  Their  town  was  destroyed  or 
left  to  subsist  merely  as  a  landing-place;  while  the  whole 
adjoining  plain  was  consecrated  to  the  Delphian  god,  whose 
domains  thus  touched  the  sea.  Under  this  sentence,  pro- 
nounced by  the  religious  feeling  of  Greece,  and  sanctified  by  a 
solemn  oath  publicly  sworn  and  inscribed  at  Delphi,  the  land 
was  condemned  to  remain  untilled  and  unplanted,  without  any 
species  of  human  care,  and  serving  only  for  the  pasturage  of  cat- 
tle. The  latter  circumstance  was  convenient  to  the  temple, 
inasmuch  as  it  furnished  abundance  of  victims  for  the  pilgrims 
who  landed  and  came  to  sacrifice — for  without  preliminary  sacri- 
fice no  man  could  consult  the  oracle ;  while  the  entire  prohibi- 
tion of  tillage  was  the  only  means  of  obviating  the  growth  of 
another  troublesome  neighbor  on  the  seaboard.  The  ruin  of 
Cirrha  in  this  war  is  certain :  though  the  necessity  of  a  harbor 
for  visitors  arriving  by  sea,  led  to  the  gradual  revival  of  the  town 
upon  a  humbler  scale  of  pretension.  But  the  fate  of  Crissa  is 
not  so  clear,  nor  do  we  know  whether  it  was  destroyed,  or  left 
subsisting  in  a  position  of  inferiority  with  regard  to  Delphi. 
From  this  time  forward,  however,  the  Delphian  community 
appear  as  substantive  and  autonomous,  exercising  in  their  own 
right  the  management  of  the  temple;  though  we  shall  find,  on 
more  than  one  occasion,  that  the  Phocians  contest  this  right, 
and  lay  claim  to  the  management  of  it  for  themselves — a  rem- 
nant of  that  early  period  when  the  oracle  stood  in  the  do- 
main of  the  Phocian  Crissa.  There  seems,  moreover,  to 


PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI  197 

been  a  standing  antipathy  between  the  Delphians  and  the 
Phocians. 

The  Sacred  War  emanating  from  a  solemn  Amphictyomc 
decree,  carried  on  jointly  by  troops  of  different  states  whom  we 
do  not  know  to  have  ever  before  cooperated,  and  directed 
exclusively  toward  an  object  of  common  interest — is  in  itself  a 
fact  of  high  importance,  as  manifesting  a  decided  growth  of  pan- 
Hellenic  feeling.  Sparta  is  not  named  as  interfering — a  cir- 
cumstance which  seems  remarkable  when  we  consider  both  her 
power,  even  as  it  then  stood,  and  her  intimate  connection  with 
the  Delphian  oracle — while  the  Athenians  appear  as  the  chief 
movers,  through  the  greatest  and  best  of  their  citizens.  The 
credit  of  a  large-minded  patriotism  rests  prominently  upon 
them. 

But  if  this  sacred  war  itself  is  a  proof  that  the  pan-Hellenic 
spirit  was  growing  stronger,  the  positive  result  in  which  it 
ended  reinforced  that  spirit  still  farther.  The  spoils  of  Cirrha 
were  employed  by  the  victorious  allies  in  founding  the  Pythian 
games.  The  octennial  festival  hitherto  celebrated  at  Delphi  in 
honor  of  the  god,  including  no  other  competition  except  in  the 
harp  and  the  paean,  was  expanded  into  comprehensive  games 
on  the  model  of  the  Olympic,  with  matches  not  only  of  music, 
but  also  of  gymnastics  and  chariots — celebrated,  not  at  Delphi 
itself,  but  on  the  maritime  plain  near  the  ruined  Cirrha — and 
under  the  direct  superintendence  of  the  Amphictyons  them- 
selves. I  have  already  mentioned  that  Solon  provided  large 
rewards  for  such  Athenians  as  gained  victories  in  the  Olympic 
and  Isthmian  games,  thereby  indicating  his  sense  of  the  great 
value  of  the  national  games  as  ±  means  of  promoting  Hellenic 
intercommunion.  It  was  the  same  feeling  which  instigated  the 
foundation  of  the  new  games  on  the  Cirrhaean  plain,  in  com- 
memoration cf  the  vindicated  honor  of  Apollo,  and  in  the  terri- 
tory newly  made  over  to  him.  They  were  celebrated  in  the 
autumn,  or  first  half  of  every  third  Olympic  year;  the  Am- 
phictyons being  the  ostensible  Agonothets  or  administrators, 
and  appointing  persons  to  discharge  the  duty  in  their  names. 
At  the  first  Pythian  ceremony  (in  B.C.  586),  valuable  rewards 
were  given  to  the  different  victors;  at  the  second  (B.C.  582), 
nothing  was  conferred  but  wreaths  of  laurel — the  rapidly  at- 


198  PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

tained  celebrity  of  the  games  being  such  as  to  render  any  further 
recompense  superfluous.  The  Sicyonian  despot,  Clisthenes 
himself,  once  the  leader  in  the  conquest  of  Cirrha,  gained  the 
prize  at  the  chariot-race  of  the  second  Pythia.  We  find  other 
great  personages  in  Greece  frequently  mentioned  as  competi- 
tors, and  the  games  long  maintained  a  dignit)  second  only  to 
the  Olympic,  over  which  indeed  they  had  some  advantages ; 
first,  that  they  were  not  abused  for  the  purpose  of  promoting 
petty  jealousies  and  antipathies  of  any  administering  state,  as 
the  Olympic  games  were  perverted  by  the  Eleans  on  more 
than  one  occasion ;  next,  that  they  comprised  music  and  poe- 
try as  well  as  bodily  display.  From  the  circumstances  attend- 
ing their  foundation,  the  Pythian  games  deserved,  even  more 
than  the  Olympic,  the  title  bestowed  on  them  by  Demos- 
thenes— "  the  common  Agon  of  the  Greeks." 

The  Olympic  and  Pythian  games  continued  always  to  be 
the  most  venerated  solemnities  in  Greece.  Yet  the  Nemea 
and  Isthmia  acquired  a  celebrity  not  much  inferior;  the  Olym- 
pic prize  counting  for  the  highest  of  all.  Both  the  Nemea  and 
Isthmia  were  distinguished  from  the  other  two  festivals  by 
occurring  not  once  in  four  years,  but  once  in  two  years ;  the 
former  in  the  second  and  fourth  years  of  each  Olympiad,  the 
latter  in  the  first  and  third  years.  To  both  is  assigned,  accord- 
ing to  Greek  custom,  an  origin  connected  with  the  interesting 
persons  and  circumstances  of  legendary  antiquity;  but  our 
historical  knowledge  of  both  begins  with  the  sixth  century  B.C. 
The  first  historical  Nemead  is  presented  as  belonging  to 
Olympiad  B.C.  52  or  53  (572-568),  a  few  years  subsequent  to 
the  Sacred  War  above  mentioned  and  to  the  origin  of  the 
Pythia.  The  festival  was  celebrated  in  honor  of  the  N  em  can 
Zeus,  in  the  valley  of  Nemea  between  Philus  and  Cleonse. 
The  Cleonaeans  themselves  were  originally  its  presidents, 
until,  some  period  after  B.C.  460,  the  Argians  deprived  them 
of  that  honor  and  assumed  the  honors  of  administration  to 
themselves.  The  Nemean  games  had  their  Hellanodicae  to 
superintend,  to  keep  order,  and  to  distribute  the  prizes,  as  well 
as  the  Olympic. 

Respecting  the  Isthmian  festival,  our  first  historical  infor- 
mation is  a  little  earlier,  for  it  has  already  been  stated  that 


PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI  199 

Solon  conferred  a  premium  upon  every  Athenian  citizen  who 
gained  a  prize  at  that  festival  as  well  as  at  the  Olympian — in 
or  after  B.C.  594.  It  was  celebrated  by  the  Corinthians  at 
their  isthmus,  in  honor  of  Poseidon,  and  if  we  may  draw  any 
inference  from  the  legends  respecting  its  foundation,  which  is 
ascribed  sometimes  to  Theseus,  the  Athenians  appear  to  have 
identified  it  with  the  antiquities  of  their  own  state. 

We  thus  perceive  that  the  interval  between  B.C.  600-560, 
exhibits  the  first  historical  manifestation  of  the  Pythia,  Isth- 
mia,  and  Nemea — the  first  expansion  of  all  the  three  from 
local  into  pan-Hellenic  festivals.  To  the  Olympic  games,  for 
some  time  the  only  great  centre  of  union  among  all  the  widely 
dispersed  Greeks,  are  now  added  three  other  sacred  Agones  of 
the  like  public,  open,  national  character ;  constituting  visible 
marks,  as  well  as  tutelary  bonds,  of  collective  Hellenism,  and 
insuring  to  every  Greek  who  went  to  compete  in  the  matches, 
a  safe  and  inviolate  transit  even  through  hostile  Hellenic 
states.  These  four,  all  in  or  near  Peloponnesus,  and  one  of 
which  occurred  in  each  year,  formed  the  period  or  cycle  of  sa- 
cred games,  and  those  who  had  gained  prizes  at  all  the  four 
received  the  enviable  designation  of  Periodonices.  The  hon- 
ors paid  to  Olympic  victors,  on  their  return  to  their  native  city, 
were  prodigious  even  in  the  sixth  century  B.C.,  and  became 
even  more  extravagant  afterward.  We  may  remark  that  in 
the  Olympic  games  alone,  the  oldest  as  well  as  the  most  illus- 
trious of  the  four,  the  musical  and  intellectual  element  was 
wanting.  All  the  three  more  recent  Agones  included  crowns 
for  exercises  of  music  and  poetry,  along  with  gymnastics,  char- 
iots, and  horses. 

It  was  not  only  in  the  distinguishing  national  stamp  set 
upon  these  four  great  festivals,  that  the  gradual  increase  of 
Hellenic  family  feeling  exhibited  itself,  during  the  course  of 
this  earliest  period  of  Grecian  history.  Pursuant  to  the  same 
tendencies,  religious  festivals  in  all  the  considerable  towns 
gradually  became  more  and  more  open  and  accessible,  attract- 
ing guests  as  well  as  competitors  from  beyond  the  border. 
The  comparative  dignity  of  the  city,  as  well  as  the  honor  ren- 
dered to  the  presiding  god,  were  measured  by  the  numbers,  ad- 
miration, and  envy,  of  the  frequenting  visitors.  There  is  no 


200  PYTHIAN   GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

positive  evidence  indeed  of  such  expansion  in  the  Attic  festi- 
vals earlier  than  the  reign  of  Pisistratus,  who  first  added  the 
quadrennial  or  greater  Panathenae  to  the  ancient  annual  or  les- 
ser Panathenaea.  Nor  can  we  trace  the  steps  of  progress  in 
regard  to  Thebes,  Orchomenus,  Thespias,  Megara,  Sicyon, 
Pellene,  JEgina,  Argos,  etc.,  but  we  find  full  reason  for  believ- 
ing that  such  was  the  general  reality.  Of  the  Olympic  or 
Isthmian  victors  whom  Pindar  and  Simonides  celebrated,  many 
derived  a  portion  of  their  renown  from  previous  victories 
acquired  at  several  of  these  local  contests — victories  some- 
times so  numerous  as  to  prove  how  wide-spread  the  habit  of 
reciprocal  f requentation  had  become :  though  we  find,  even  in 
the  third  century  B.C.,  treaties  of  alliance  between  different 
cities  in  which  it  is  thought  necessary  to  confer  such  mutual 
right  by  express  stipulation.  Temptation  was  offered,  to  the 
distinguished  gymnastic  or  musical  competitors,  by  prizes  of 
great  value.  Timasus  even  asserted,  as  a  proof  of  the  over- 
weening pride  of  Croton  and  Sybaris,  that  these  cities  tried  to 
supplant  the  preeminence  of  the  Olympic  games  by  instituting 
games  of  their  own  with  the  richest  prizes  to  be  celebrated  at 
the  same  time — a  statement  in  itself  not  worthy  of  credit,  yet 
nevertheless  illustrating  the  animated  rivalry  known  to  prevail 
among  the  Grecian  cities  in  procuring  for  themselves  splendid 
and  crowded  games.  At  the  time  when  the  Homeric  hymn  to 
Demeter  was  composed,  the  worship  of  that  goddess  seems  to 
have  been  purely  local  at  Eleusis.  But  before  the  Persian  war, 
the  festival  celebrated  by  the  Athenians  every  year,  in  honor 
of  the  Eleusinian  Demeter,  admitted  Greeks  of  all  cities  to  be 
initiated,  and  was  attended  by  vast  crowds  of  them. 

It  was  thus  that  the  simplicity  and  strict  local  application 
of  the  primitive  religious  festival  among  the  greater  states  in 
Greece  gradually  expanded,  on  certain  great  occasions  periodi- 
cally recurring,  into  an  elaborate  and  regulated  series  of  exhi- 
bitions not  merely  admitting,  but  soliciting,  the  fraternal 
presence  of  all  Hellenic  spectators.  In  this  respect  Sparta 
seems  to  have  formed  an  exception  to  the  remaining  states. 
Her  festivals  were  for  herself  alone,  and  her  general  rudeness 
toward  other  Greeks  was  not  materially  softened  even  at  the 
Carneia  and  Hyacinthia,  or  Gymnopaediae.  On  the  other 


PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI  201 

hand,  the  Attic  Dionysia  were  gradually  exalted,  from  their 
original  rude  spontaneous  outburst  of  village  feeling  in  thank- 
fulness to  the  god,  followed  by  song,  dance  and  revelry  of  va- 
rious kinds,  into  costly  and  diversified  performances,  first  by  a 
trained  chorus,  next  by  actors  superadded  to  it. 

And  the  dramatic  compositions  thus  produced,  as  they  em- 
bodied the  perfection  of  Grecian  art,  so  they  were  eminently 
calculated  to  invite  a  pan-Hellenic  audience  and  to  encourage 
the  sentiment  of  Hellenic  unity.  The  dramatic  literature  of 
Athens  however  belongs  properly  to  a  later  period.  Previous 
to  the  year  B.C  560,  we  see  only  those  commencements  of  inno- 
vation which  drew  upon  Thespis  the  rebuke  of  Solon ;  who 
however  himself  contributed  to  impart  to  the  Panathenaic  fes- 
tival a  more  solemn  and  attractive  character  by  checking  the 
license  of  the  rhapsodes  and  insuring  to  those  present  a  full 
orderly  recital  of  the  Iliad. 

The  sacred  games  and  festivals  took  hold  of  the  Greek 
mind  by  so  great  a  variety  of  feelings  as  to  counterbalance  in 
a  high  degree  the  political  disseverance,  and  to  keep  alive 
among  their  widespread  cities,  in  the  midst  of  constant  jealousy 
and  frequent  quarrel,  a  feeling  of  brotherhood  and  congenial 
sentiment  such  as  must  otherwise  have  died  away.  The  The- 
ors,  or  sacred  envoys  who  came  to  Olympia  or  Delphi  from  so 
many  different  points,  all  sacrificed  to  the  same  god  and  at  the 
same  altar,  witnessed  the  same  sports,  and  contributed  by  their 
donatives  to  enrich  or  adorn  one  respective  scene.  Moreover 
the  festival  afforded  opportunity  for  a  sort  of  fair,  including 
much  traffic  amid  so  large  a  mass  of  spectators ;  and  besides 
the  exhibitions  of  the  games  themselves,  there  were  recitations 
and  lectures  in  a  spacious  council-room  for  those  who  chose  to 
listen  to  them,  by  poets,  rhapsodes,  philosophers  and  historians 
— among  which  last  the  history  of  Herodotus  is  said  to  have 
been  publicly  read  by  its  author.  Of  the  wealthy  and  great 
men  in  the  various  cities,  many  contended  simply  for  the  char- 
iot-victories and  horse-victories.  But  there  were  others  whose 
ambition  was  of  a  character  more  strictly  personal,  and  who 
stripped  naked  as  runners,  wrestlers,  boxers,  or  pancratiasts, 
having  gone  through  the  extreme  fatigue  of  a  complete  previ- 
ous training,  Cylon,  whose  unfortunate  attempt  to  usurp  the 


202  PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT  DELPHI 

scepter  at  Athens  has  been  recounted,  had  gained  the  prize  in 
the  Olympic  stadium;  Alexander  son  of  Amyntas,  the  prince 
of  Macedon,  had  run  for  it ;  the  great  family  of  the  Diagoridse 
at  Rhodes,  who  furnished  magistrates  and  generals  to  their  na- 
tive city,  supplied  a  still  greater  number  of  successful  boxers 
and  pancratiasts  at  Olympia,  while  other  instances  also  occur 
of  generals  named  by  various  cities  from  the  list  of  successful 
Olympic  gymnasts;  and  the  odes  of  Pindar,  always  dearly 
purchased,  attest  how  many  of  the  great  and  wealthy  were 
found  in  that  list.  The  perfect  popularity  and  equality  of  per- 
sons at  these  great  games,  is  a  feature  not  less  remarkable 
than  the  exact  adherence  to  predetermined  rule,  and  the  self- 
imposed  submission  of  the  immense  crowd  to  a  handful  of  ser- 
vants armed  with  sticks,  who  executed  the  orders  of  the  Elean 
Hellanodice.  The  ground  upon  which  the  ceremony  took 
place,  and  even  the  territory  of  the  administering  state,  was 
protected  by  a  "  Truce  of  God  "  during  the  month  of  the  festi- 
val, the  commencement  of  which  was  formally  announced  by 
heralds  sent  round  to  the  different  states.  Treaties  of  peace 
between  different  cities  were  often  formally  commemorated  by 
pillars  there  erected,  and  the  general  impression  of  the  scene 
suggested  nothing  but  ideas  of  peace  and  brotherhood  among 
Greeks.  And  I  may  remark  that  the  impression  of  the  games 
as  belonging  to  all  Greeks,  and  to  none  but  Greeks,  was 
stronger  and  clearer  during  the  interval  between  B.C.  600-300 
than  it  came  to  be  afterward.  For  the  Macedonian  conquests 
had  the  effect  of  diluting  and  corrupting  Hellenism,  by  spread- 
ing an  exterior  varnish  of  Hellenic  tastes  and  manners  ovei  a 
wide  area  of  incongruous  foreigners  who  were  incapable  of  the 
real  elevation  of  the  Hellenic  character ;  so  that  although  in 
later  times  the  games  continued  undiminished  both  in  attrac- 
tion and  in  number  of  visitors,  the  spirit  of  pan-Hellenic 
communion  which  had  once  animated  the  scene  was  gone 
forever. 


SOLON'S  EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

B.C.  594 

GEORGE  GROTE 

Lycurgus,  the  reputed  Spartan  lawgiver,  is  credited  with  the  construc- 
tion, about  B.C.  800,  of  the  earliest  Grecian  commonwealth  founded  upon 
a  specific  code  of  laws.  These  laws  had  mainly  a  military  basis,  and 
through  obedience  to  them  the  Spartans  became  a  people  of  great  hardi- 
ness, accustomed  to  self -discipline,  famous  for  their  prowess  and  endur- 
ance in  war,  and  for  sternness  of  individual  and  social  virtues. 

In  Athens  there  were  no  written  laws  until  the  time  of  Draco,  B.C. 
621,  the  government  before  that  period  having  been  long  in  the  hands  of 
an  oligarchy.  In  the  year  above  named  Draco  was  archon,  and  to  him 
was  intrusted  the  work  of  framing  a  legal  code,  conditions  under  the 
oligarchic  rule  having  become  intolerable  to  the  people  at  large.  The 
chief  features  of  Draco's  legislation  had  reference  to  the  punishment  of 
crime,  and  so  extreme  were  the  severities  of  the  system  and  so  cruel  the 
penalties  it  prescribed  that  in  later  times  it  was  declared  to  have  been 
written  in  blood. 

The  Draconian  laws  remained  in  force  until  superseded  by  the  great 
system  of  Solon,  whose  advent  as  the  new  lawgiver  was  brought  about 
mainly  through  the  conspiracy  of  Cylon,  twelve  years  after  the  legisla- 
tion of  Draco.  Affairs  in  Athens  were  in  a  deplorable  state  of  confusion 
and  violence,  the  revolt  of  the  poor  against  the  power  and  privilege  of 
the  rich  leading  to  dangerous  dissensions  and  collisions.  Solon,  who 
enjoyed  a  universal  reputation  for  wisdom  and  uprightness,  was  called 
upon  by  the  oligarchy,  which  again  held  rule,  to  assume  what  was,  in 
fact,  almost  absolute  power.  The  character  of  his  legislation  and  its 
influence  upon  the  course  of  Greek  history  have  been  set  forth  by  many 
authors,  and  the  following  account  is  perhaps  the  best  that  has  appeared 
in  modern  literature. 

C  OLON,  son  of  Execestides,  was  a  Eupatrid  of  middling  for- 
tune, but  of  the  purest  heroic  blood,  belonging  to  the  gens 
or  family  of  the  Codrids  and  Neleids,  and  tracing  his  origin  to 
the  god  Poseidon.  His  father  is  said  to  have  diminished  his 
substance  by  prodigality,  which  compelled  Solon  in  his  earlier 
years  to  have  recourse  to  trade,  and  in  this  pursuit  he  visited 
many  parts  of  Greece  and  Asia.  He  was  thus  enabled  to  en- 

303 


204    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

large  the  sphere  of  his  observation,  and  to  provide  material  for 
thought  as  well  as  for  composition.  His  poetical  talents  dis- 
played themselves  at  a  very  early  age,  first  on  light,  afterward 
on  serious  subjects.  It  will  be  recollected  that  there  was  at 
that  time  no  Greek  prose  writing,  and  that  the  acquisitions  as 
well  as  the  effusions  of  an  intellectual  man,  even  in  their  sim- 
plest form,  adjusted  themselves  not  to  the  limitations  of  the 
period  and  the  semicolon,  but  to  those  of  the  hexameter  and 
pentameter.  Nor,  in  point  of  fact,  do  the  verses  of  Solon  aspire 
to  any  higher  effect  than  we  are  accustomed  to  associate  with 
an  earnest,  touching,  and  admonitory  prose  composition.  The 
advice  and  appeals  which  he  frequently  addressed  to  his  coun- 
trymen were  delivered  in  this  easy  metre,  doubtless  far  less 
difficult  than  the  elaborate  prose  of  subsequent  writers  or 
speakers,  such  as  Thucydides,  Isocrates,  or  Demosthenes. 
His  poetry  and  his  reputation  became  known  throughout  many 
parts  of  Greece,  so  that  he  was  classed  along  with  Thales  of 
Miletus,  Bias  of  Priene,  Pittacus  of  Mitylene,  Periander  of  Cor- 
inth, Cleobulus  of  Lindus,  Cheilon  of  Lacedaemon — altogether 
forming  the  constellation  afterward  renowned  as  the  seven  wise 
men. 

The  first  particular  event  in  respect  to  which  Solon  appears 
as  an  active  politician,  is  the  possession  of  the  island  of  Sala- 
mis,  then  disputed  between  Megara  and  Athens.  Megara  was 
at  that  time  able  to  contest  with  Athens,  and  for  some  time  to 
contest  with  success,  the  occupation  of  this  important  island — 
a  remarkable  fact,  which  perhaps  may  be  explained  by  suppos- 
ing that  the  inhabitants  of  Athens  and  its  neighborhood  carried 
on  the  struggle  with  only  partial  aid  from  the  rest  of  Attica. 
However  this  may  be,  it  appears  that  the  Megarians  had  act- 
ually established  themselves  in  Salamis,  at  the  time  when  Solon 
began  his  political  career,  and  that  the  Athenians  had  expe- 
rienced so  much  loss  in  the  struggle  as  to  have  formally  pro- 
hibited any  citizen  from  ever  submitting  a  proposition  for  its 
reconquest.  Stung  with  this  dishonorable  abnegation,  Solon 
counterfeited  a  state  of  ecstatic  excitement,  rushed  into  the 
agora,  and  there  on  the  stone  usually  occupied  by  the  official 
herald,  pronounced  to  the  surrounding  crowd  a  short  elegiac 
poem  which  he  had  previously  composed  on  the  subject  of 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    205 

Salamis.  Enforcing  upon  them  the  disgrace  of  abandoning  the 
island,  he  wrought  so  powerfully  upon  their  feelings  that  they 
rescinded  the  prohibitory  law.  "  Rather  (he  exclaimed)  would 
I  forfeit  my  native  city  and  become  a  citizen  of  Pholegandrus, 
than  be  still  named  an  Athenian,  branded  with  the  shame  of 
surrendered  Salamis ! "  The  Athenians  again  entered  into  the 
war,  and  conferred  upon  him  the  command  of  it — partly,  as  we 
are  told,  at  the  instigation  of  Pisistratus,  though  the  latter 
must  have  been  at  this  time  (B.C.  600-594)  a  very  young  man, 
or  rather  a  boy. 

The  stories  in  Plutarch,  as  to  the  way  in  which  Salamis  was 
recovered,  are  contradictory  as  well  as  apocryphal,  ascribing  to 
Solon  various  stratagems  to  deceive  the  Megarian  occupiers. 
Unfortunately  no  authority  is  given  for  any  of  them.  Accord- 
ing to  that  which  seems  the  most  plausible,  he  was  directed  by 
the  Delphian  god  first  to  propitiate  the  local  heroes  of  the  isl- 
and ;  and  he  accordingly  crossed  over  to  it  by  night,  for  the 
purpose  of  sacrificing  to  the  heroes  Periphemus  and  Cychreus 
on  the  Salaminian  shore.  Five  hundred  Athenian  volunteers 
were  then  levied  for  the  attack  of  the  island,  under  the  stipu- 
lation that  if  they  were  victorious  they  should  hold  it  in  prop- 
erty and  citizenship.  They  were  safely  landed  on  an  outlying 
promontory,  while  Solon,  having  been  fortunate  enough  to 
seize  a  ship  which  the  Megarians  had  sent  to  watch  the  pro- 
ceedings, manned  it  with  Athenians  and  sailed  straight  toward 
the  city  of  Salamis,  to  which  the  Athenians  who  had  landed 
also  directed  their  march.  The  Megarians  marched  out  from 
the  city  to  repel  the  latter,  and  during  the  heat  of  the  engage- 
ment Solon,  with  his  Megarian  ship  and  Athenian  crew,  .sailed 
directly  to  the  city.  The  Megarians,  interpreting  this  as  the 
return  of  their  own  crew,  permitted  the  ship  to  approach  with- 
out resistance,  and  the  city  was  thus  taken  by  surprise.  Per- 
mission having  been  given  to  the  Megarians  to  quit  the  island, 
Solon  took  possession  of  it  for  the  Athenians,  erecting  a  temple 
to  Enyalius,  the  god  of  war,  on  Cape  Sciradium,  near  the  city 
of  Salamis. 

The  citizens  of  Megara,  however,  made  various  efforts  for 
the  recovery  of  so  valuable  a  possession,  so  that  a  war  ensued 
long  as  well  as  disastrous  to  both  parties.  At  last  it  was  agreed 


206    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

between  them  to  refer  the  dispute  to  the  arbitration  of  Sparta, 
and  five  Spartans  were  appointed  to  decide  it — Critolaidas, 
Amompharetus,  Hypsechidas,  Anaxilas,  and  Cleomenes.  The 
verdict  in  favor  of  Athens  was  founded  on  evidence  which  it  is 
somewhat  curious  to  trace.  Both  parties  attempted  to  show 
that  the  dead  bodies  buried  in  the  island  conformed  to  their 
own  peculiar  mode  of  interment,  and  both  parties  are  said  to 
have  cited  verses  from  the  catalogue  of  the  Iliad—  each  accus- 
ing the  other  of  error  or  interpolation.  But  the  Athenians  had 
the  advantage  on  two  points:  first,  there  were  oracles  from 
Delphi,  wherein  Salamis  was  mentioned  with  the  epithet  Ionian ; 
next  Philaeus  and  Eurysaces,  sons  of  the  Telamonian  Ajax,  the 
great  hero  of  the  island,  had  accepted  the  citizenship  of  Athens, 
made  over  Salamis  to  the  Athenians,  and  transferred  their  own 
residences  to  Brauron  and  Melite  in  Attica,  where  the  deme,  or 
gens,  Philaidae  still  worshipped  Philaeus  as  its  eponymous  an- 
cestor. Such  a  title  was  held  sufficient,  and  Salamis  was  ad- 
judged by  the  five  Spartans  to  Attica,  with  which  it  ever  after- 
ward remained  incorporated  until  the  days  of  Macedonian 
supremacy.  Two  centuries  and  a  half  later,  when  the  orator 
^Eschines  argued  the  Athenian  right  to  Amphipolis  against 
Philip  of  Macedon,  the  legendary  elements  of  the  title  were 
indeed  put  forward,  but  more  in  the  way  of  preface  or  introduc- 
tion to  the  substantial  political  grounds.  But  in  the  year  600 
B.C.  the  authority  of  the  legend  was  more  deep-seated  and  oper- 
ative, and  adequate  by  itself  to  determine  a  favorable  verdict. 

In  addition  to  the  conquest  of  Salamis,  Solon  increased  his 
reputation  by  espousing  the  cause  of  the  Delphian  temple 
against  the  extortionate  proceedings  of  the  inhabitants  of  Cir- 
rha,  and  the  favor  of  the  oracle  was  probably  not  without  its 
effect  in  procuring  for  him  that  encouraging  prophecy  with 
which  his  legislative  career  opened. 

It  is  on  the  occasion  of  Solon's  legislation  that  we  obtain 
our  first  glimpse — unfortunately  but  a  glimpse — of  the  actual 
state  of  Attica  and  its  inhabitants.  It  is  a  sad  and  repulsive 
picture,  presenting  to  us  political  discord  and  private  suffering 
combined. 

Violent  dissensions  prevailed  among  the  inhabitants  of  At- 
tica, who  were  separated  into  three  factions— the  Pedieis,  or 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    207 

men  of  the  plain,  comprising  Athens,  Eleusis,  and  the  neigh- 
boring territory,  among  whom  the  greatest  number  of  rich  fami- 
lies were  included ;  the  mountaineers  in  the  east  and  north  of 
Attica,  called  Diacrii,  who  were,  on  the  whole,  the  poorest 
party ;  and  the  Paralii  in  the  southern  portion  of  Attica  from 
sea  to  sea,  whose  means  and  social  position  were  intermediate 
between  the  two.  Upon  what  particular  points  these  intestine 
disputes  turned  we  are  not  distinctly  informed.  They  were 
not,  however,  peculiar  to  the  period  immediately  preceding  the 
archonship  of  Solon.  They  had  prevailed  before,  and  they  reap- 
pear afterward  prior  to  the  despotism  of  Pisistratus ;  the  latter 
standing  forward  as  the  leader  of  the  Diacrii,  and  as  champion, 
real  or  pretended,  of  the  poorer  population. 

But  in  the  time  of  Solon  these  intestine  quarrels  were  ag- 
gravated by  something  much  more  difficult  to  deal  with — a 
general  mutiny  of  the  poorer  population  against  the  rich,  result- 
ing from  misery  combined  with  oppression.  The  Thetes,  whose 
condition  we  have  already  contemplated  in  the  poems  of  Homer 
and  Hesiod,  are  now  presented  to  us  as  forming  the  bulk  of 
the  population  of  Attica — the  cultivating  tenants,  metayers, 
and  small  proprietors  of  the  country.  They  are  exhibited  as 
weighed  down  by  debts  and  dependence,  and  driven  in  large 
numbers  out  of  a  state  of  freedom  into  slavery — the  whole  mass 
of  them  (we  are  told)  being  in  debt  to  the  rich,  who  were  pro- 
prietors of  the  greater  part  of  the  soil.  They  had  either  bor- 
rowed money  for  their  own  necessities,  or  they  tilled  the  lands 
of  the  rich  as  dependent  tenants,  paying  a  stipulated  portion  of 
the  produce,  and  in  this  capacity  they  were  largely  in  arrear. 

All  the  calamitous  effects  were  here  seen  of  the  old  harsh 
law  of  debtor  and  creditor — once  prevalent  in  Greece,  Italy, 
Asia,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  world — combined  with  the  rec- 
ognition of  slavery  as  a  legitimate  status,  and  of  the  right  of 
one  man  to  sell  himself  as  well  as  that  of  another  man  to  buy 
him.  Every  debtor  unable  to  fulfil  his  contract  was  liable  to 
be  adjudged  as  the  slave  of  his  creditor,  until  he  could  find 
means  either  of  paying  it  or  working  it  out ;  and  not  only  he 
himself,  but  his  minor  sons  and  unmarried  daughters  and  sisters 
also,  whom  the  law  gave  him  the  power  of  selling.  The  poor 
man  thus  borrowed  upon  the  security  of  his  body  (to  translate 


2o8    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

literally  the  Greek  phrase)  and  upon  that  of  the  persons  in  his 
family.  So  severely  had  these  oppressive  contracts  been  en- 
forced, that  many  debtors  had  been  reduced  from  freedom  to 
slavery  in  Attica  itself,  many  others  had  been  sold  for  expor- 
tation, and  some  had  only  hitherto  preserved  their  own  free- 
dom by  selling  their  children.  Moreover,  a  great  number  of 
the  smaller  properties  in  Attica  were  under  mortgage,  signified — 
according  to  the  formality  usual  in  the  Attic  law,  and  continued 
down  throughout  the  historical  times — by  a  stone  pillar  erected 
on  the  land,  inscribed  with  the  name  of  the  lender  and  the 
amount  of  the  loan.  The  proprietors  of  these  mortgaged  lands, 
in  case  of  an  unfavorable  turn  of  events,  had  no  other  prospect 
except  that  of  irremediable  slavery  for  themselves  and  their 
families,  either  in  their  own  native  country  robbed  of  all  its 
delights,  or  in  some  barbarian  region  where  the  Attic  accent 
would  never  meet  their  ears.  Some  had  fled  the  country  to 
escape  legal  adjudication  of  their  persons,  and  earned  a  miser- 
able subsistence  in  foreign  parts  by  degrading  occupations. 
Upon  several,  too,  this  deplorable  lot  had  fallen  by  unjust  con- 
demnation and  corrupt  judges;  the  conduct  of  the  rich,  in 
regard  to  money  sacred  and  profane,  in  regard  to  matters  public 
as  well  as  private,  being  thoroughly  unprincipled  and  rapacious. 
The  manifold  and  long-continued  suffering  of  the  poor  under 
this  system,  plunged  into  a  state  of  debasement  not  more  toler- 
able than  that  of  the  Gallic plebs — and  the  injustices  of  the  rich, 
in  whom  all  political  power  was  then  vested — are  facts  well  at- 
tested by  the  poems  of  Solon  himself,  even  in  the  short  frag- 
ments preserved  to  us.  It  appears  that  immediately  preceding 
the  time  of  his  archonship  the  evils  had  ripened  to  such  a  point, 
and  the  determination  of  the  mass  of  sufferers  to  extort  for 
themselves  some  mode  of  relief  had  become  so  pronounced, 
that  the  existing  laws  could  no  longer  be  enforced.  According 
to  the  profound  remark  of  Aristotle — that  seditions  are  gen- 
erated by  great  causes  but  out  of  small  incidents — we  may  con- 
ceive that  some  recent  events  had  occurred  as  immediate  stim- 
ulants to  the  outbreak  of  the  debtors,  like  those  which  lent  so 
striking  an  interest  to  the  early  Roman  annals,  as  the  inflaming 
sparks  of  violent  popular  movements  for  which  the  train  had 
long  before  been  laid.  Condemnations  by  the  archons  of  in- 


SOLON'S    EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    209 

solvent  debtors  may  have  been  unusually  numerous;  or  the 
maltreatment  of  some  particular  debtor,  once  a  respected  free- 
man, in  his  condition  of  slavery,  may  have  been  brought  to  act 
vividly  upon  the  public  sympathies ;  like  the  case  of  the  old 
plebeian  centurion  at  Rome — first  impoverished  by  the  plunder 
of  the  enemy,  then  reduced  to  borrow,  and  lastly  adjudged  to 
his  creditor  as  an  insolvent — who  claimed  the  protection  of  the 
people  in  the  forum,  rousing  their  feelings  to  the  highest  pitch 
by  the  marks  of  the  slave-whip  visible  on  his  person.  Some 
such  incidents  had  probably  happened,  though  we  have  no  his- 
torians to  recount  them.  Moreover,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
imagine  that  that  public  mental  affliction  which  the  purifier 
Epimenides  had  been  invoked  to  appease,  as  it  sprung  in  part 
from  pestilence,  so  it  had  its  cause  partly  in  years  of  sterility, 
which  must  of  course  have  aggravated  the  distress  of  the  small 
cultivators.  However  this  may  be,  such  was  the  condition  of 
things  in  B.C.  594  through  mutiny  of  the  poor  freemen  and 
Thetes,  and  uneasiness  of  the  middling  citizens,  that  the  gov- 
erning oligarchy,  unable  either  to  enforce  their  private  debts  or 
to  maintain  their  political  power,  were  obliged  to  invoke  the 
well-known  wisdom  and  integrity  of  Solon.  Though  his  vigor- 
ous protest — which  doubtless  rendered  him  acceptable  to  the 
mass  of  the  people — against  the  iniquity  of  the  existing  system 
had  already  been  proclaimed  in  his  poems,  they  still  hoped 
that  he  would  serve  as  an  auxiliary  to  help  them  over  their  dif- 
ficulties. They  therefore  chose  him,  nominally  as  archon  along 
with  Philombrotus,  but  with  power  in  substance  dictatorial. 

It  had  happened  in  several  Grecian  states  that  the  govern- 
ing oligarchies,  either  by  quarrels  among  their  own  members  or 
by  the  general  bad  condition  of  the  people  under  their  govern- 
ment, were  deprived  of  that  hold  upon  the  public  mind  which 
was  essential  to  their  power.  Sometimes — as  in  the  case  of 
Pittacus  of  Mitylene  anterior  to  the  archonship  of  Solon,  and 
often  in  the  factions  of  the  Italian  republics  in  the  middle  ages — 
the  collision  of  opposing  forces  had  rendered  society  intolerable, 
and  driven  all  parties  to  acquiesce  in  the  choice  of  some  reform- 
ing dictator.  Usually,  however,  in  the  early  Greek  oligarchies, 
this  ultimate  crisis  was  anticipated  by  some  ambitious  individual, 
who  availed  himself  of  the  public  discontent  to  overthrow  the 

H.  E.,  VOL.  I.— 14 


210    SOLON'S    EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION 

oligarchy  and  usurp  the  powers  of  a  despot.  And  so  probably 
it  might  have  happened  in  Athens,  had  not  the  recent  failure 
of  Cylon,  with  all  its  miserable  consequences,  operated  as  a 
deterring  motive.  It  is  curious  to  read,  in  the  words  of  Solon 
himself,  the  temper  in  which  his  appointment  was  construed  by 
a  large  portion  of  the  community,  but  more  especially  by  his 
own  friends :  bearing  in  mind  that  at  this  early  day,  so  far  as 
our  knowledge  goes,  democratical  government  was  a  thing  un- 
known in  Greece — all  Grecian  governments  were  either  oligar- 
chical or  despotic — the  mass  of  the  freemen  having  not  yet 
tasted  of  constitutional  privilege.  His  own  friends  and  sup- 
porters were  the  first  to  urge  him,  while  redressing  the  preva- 
lent discontents,  to  multiply  partisans  for  himself  personally, 
and  seize  the  supreme  power.  They  even  "  chid  him  as  a  mad- 
man, for  declining  to  haul  up  the  net  when  the  fish  were  already 
enmeshed."  The  mass  of  the  people,  in  despair  with  their  lot, 
would  gladly  have  seconded  him  in  such  an  attempt;  while 
many  even  among  the  oligarchy  might  have  acquiesced  in  his 
personal  government,  from  the  mere  apprehension  of  something 
worse  if  they  resisted  it.  That  Solon  might  easily  have  made 
himself  despot  admits  of  little  doubt.  And  though  the  position 
of  a  Greek  despot  was  always  perilous,  he  would  have  had 
greater  facility  for  maintaining  himself  in  it  than  Pisistratus 
possessed  after  him ;  so  that  nothing  but  the  combination  of 
prudence  and  virtue,  which  marks  his  lofty  character,  restricted 
him  within  the  trust  specially  confided  to  him.  To  the  surprise 
of  every  one — to  the  dissatisfaction  of  his  own  friends — under 
the  complaints  alike  (as  he  says)  of  various  extreme  and  dis- 
sentient parties,  who  required  him  to  adopt  measures  fatal  to 
the  peace  of  society — he  set  himself  honestly  to  solve  the  very 
difficult  and  critical  problem  submitted  to  him. 

Of  all  grievances,  the  most  urgent  was  the  condition  of  the 
poorer  class  of  debtors.  To  their  relief  Solon's  first  measure, 
the  memorable  Seisachtheia,  or  shaking  off  of  burdens,  was 
directed.  The  relief  which  it  afforded  was  complete  and  imme- 
diate. It  cancelled  at  once  all  those  contracts  in  which  the 
debtor  had  borrowed  on  the  security  either  of  his  person  or  of 
his  land :  it  forbade  all  future  loans  or  contracts  in  which  the 
person  of  the  debtor  was  pledged  as  security :  it  deprived  the. 


SOLON'S    EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    211 

creditor  in  future  of  all  power  to  imprison,  or  enslave,  or  extort 
work,  from  his  debtor,  and  confined  him  to  an  effective  judg- 
ment at  law  authorizing  the  seizure  of  the  property  of  the  latter. 
It  swept  off  all  the  numerous  mortgage  pillars  from  the  landed 
properties  in  Attica,  leaving  the  land  free  from  all  past  claims. 
It  liberated  and  restored  to  their  full  rights  all  debtors  actually 
in  slavery  under  previous  legal  adjudication;  and  it  even  pro- 
vided the  means  (we  do  not  know  how)  of  repurchasing  in  for- 
eign lands,  and  bringing  back  to  a  renewed  life  of  liberty  in 
Attica,  many  insolvents  who  had  been  sold  for  exportation. 
And  while  Solon  forbade  every  Athenian  to  pledge  or  sell  his 
own  person  into  slavery,  he  took  a  step  farther  in  the  same  di- 
rection by  forbidding  him  to  pledge  or  sell  his  son,  his  daughter, 
or  an  unmarried  sister  under  his  tutelage — excepting  only  the 
case  in  which  either  of  the  latter  might  be  detected  in  unchas- 
tity.  Whether  this  last  ordinance  was  contemporaneous  with 
the  Seisachtheia,  or  followed  as  one  of  his  subsequent  reforms, 
seems  doubtful. 

By  this  extensive  measure  the  poor  debtors — the  Thetes, 
small  tenants,  and  proprietors — together  with  their  families, 
were  rescued  from  suffering  and  peril.  But  these  were  not  the 
only  debtors  in  the  state :  the  creditors  and  landlords  of  the 
exonerated  Thetes  were  doubtless  in  their  turn  debtors  to 
others,  and  were  less  able  to  discharge  their  obligations  in  con- 
sequence of  the  loss  inflicted  upon  them  by  the  Seisachtheia. 
It  was  to  assist  these  wealthier  debtors,  whose  bodies  were  in 
no  danger — yet  without  exonerating  them  entirely — that  Solon 
resorted  to  the  additional  expedient  of  debasing  the  money 
standard.  He  lowered  the  standard  of  the  drachma  in  a  pro- 
portion of  something  more  than  25  per  cent.,  so  that  100 
drachmas  of  the  new  standard  contained  no  more  silver  than 
73  of  the  old,  or  100  of  the  old  were  equivalent  to  138  of  the 
new.  By  this  change  the  creditors  of  these  more  substantial 
debtors  were  obliged  to  submit  to  a  loss,  while  the  debtors  ac- 
quired an  exemption  to  the  extent  of  about  27  per  cent. 

Lastly,  Solon  decreed  that  all  those  who  had  been  con- 
demned by  the  archons  to  atimy  (civil  disfranchisement)  should 
be  restored  to  their  full  privileges  of  citizens — excepting,  how- 
ever, from  this  indulgence  those  who  had  been  condemned  by 


212    SOLON'S  EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

the  Ephetae,  or  by  the  Areopagus,  or  by  the  Phylo-Basileis  (the 
four  kings  of  the  tribes),  after  trial  in  the  Prytaneum,  on 
charges  either  of  murder  or  treason.  So  wholesale  a  measure 
of  amnesty  affords  strong  grounds  for  believing  that  the  pre- 
vious judgments  of  thearchons  had  been  intolerably  harsh ;  and 
it  is  to  be  recollected  that  the  Draconian  ordinances  were  then 
in  force. 

Such  were  the  measures  of  relief  with  which  Solon  met  the 
dangerous  discontent  then  prevalent.  That  the  wealthy  men 
and  leaders  of  the  people — whose  insolence  and  iniquity  he  has 
himself  severely  denounced  in  his  poems,  and  whose  views  in 
nominating  him  he  had  greatly  disappointed — should  have  de- 
tested propositions  which  robbed  them  without  compensation 
of  many  legal  rights,  it  is  easy  to  imagine.  But  the  statement 
of  Plutarch  that  the  poor  emancipated  debtors  were  also  dis- 
satisfied, from  having  expected  that  Solon  would  not  only  remit 
their  debts,  but  also  redivide  the  soil  of  Attica,  seems  utterly 
incredible;  nor  is  it  confirmed  by  any  passage  now  remaining 
of  the  Solonian  poems.  Plutarch  conceives  the  poor  debtors  as 
having  in  their  minds  the  comparison  with  Lycurgus  and  the 
equality  of  property  at  Sparta,  which,  in  my  opinion,  is 
clearly  a  matter  of  fiction ;  and  even  had  it  been  true  as  a 
matter  of  history  long  past  and  antiquated,  would  not  have 
been  likely  to  work  upon  the  minds  of  the  multitude  of  Attica 
in  the  forcible  way  that  the  biographer  supposes.  The  Sei- 
sachtheia  must  have  exasperated  the  feelings  and  diminished 
the  fortunes  of  many  persons ;  but  it  gave  to  the  large  body  of 
Thetes  and  small  proprietors  all  that  they  could  possibly  have 
hoped.  We  are  told  that  after  a  short  interval  it  became  emi- 
nently acceptable  in  the  general  public  mind,  and  procured  for 
Solon  a  great  increase  of  popularity — all  ranks  concurring  in  a 
common  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  and  harmony.  One  incident 
there  was  which  occasioned  an  outcry  of  indignation.  Three 
rich  friends  of  Solon,  all  men  of  great  family  in  the  state,  and 
bearing  names  which  appear  in  history  as  borne  by  their  de- 
scendants— namely:  Conon,  Cleinias,  and  Hipponicus — having 
obtained  from  Solon  some  previous  hint  of  his  designs,  profited 
by  it,  first  to  borrow  money,  and  next  to  make  purchases  of 
lands;  and  this  selfish  breach  of  confidence  would  have  dis- 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    213 

graced  Solon  himself,  had  it  not  been  found  that  he  was  per- 
sonally a  great  loser,  having  lent  money  to  the  extent  of  five 
talents. 

In  regard  to  the  whole  measure  of  the  Seisachtheia,  indeed, 
though  the  poems  of  Solon  were  open  to  every  one,  ancient 
authors  gave  different  statements  both  of  its  purport  and  of  its 
extent.  Most  of  them  construed  it  as  having  cancelled  indis- 
criminately all  money  contracts;  while  Androtion  and  others 
thought  that  it  did  nothing  more  than  lower  the  rate  of  inter- 
est and  depreciate  the  currency  to  the  extent  of  27  per  cent., 
leaving  the  letter  of  the  contracts  unchanged.  How  Andro- 
tion came  to  maintain  such  an  opinion  we  cannot  easily  under- 
stand. For  the  fragments  now  remaining  from  Solon  seem 
distinctly  to  refute  it,  though,  on  the  other  hand,  they  do  not 
go  so  far  as  to  substantiate  the  full  extent  of  the  opposite  view 
entertained  by  many  writers — that  all  money  contracts  indis- 
criminately were  rescinded — against  which  there  is  also  a  further 
reason,  that  if  the  fact  had  been  so,  Solon  could  have  had  no 
motive  to  debase  the  money  standard.  Such  debasement  sup- 
poses that  there  must  have  been  some  debtors  at  least  whose 
contracts  remained  valid,  and  whom  nevertheless  he  desired 
partially  to  assist.  His  poems  distinctly  mention  three  things : 
i.  The  removal  of  the  mortgage-pillars.  2.  The  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  land.  3.  The  protection,  liberation,  and  restora- 
tion of  the  persons  of  endangered  or  enslaved  debtors.  All 
these  expressions  point  distinctly  to  the  Thetes  and  small  pro- 
prietors, whose  sufferings  and  peril  were  the  most  urgent,  and 
whose  case  required  a  remedy  immediate  as  well  as  complete. 
We  find  that  his  repudiation  of  debts  was  carried  far  enough  to 
exonerate  them,  but  no  farther. 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  respect  entertained  for  the  char- 
acter of  Solon  which  partly  occasioned  these  various  miscon- 
ceptions of  his  ordinances  for  the  relief  of  debtors.  Androtion 
in  ancient,  and  some  eminent  critics  in  modern  times  are  anx- 
ious to  make  out  that  he  gave  relief  without  loss  or  injustice  to 
any  one.  But  this  opinion  seems  inadmissible.  The  loss  to 
creditors  by  the  wholesale  abrogation  of  numerous  preexisting 
contracts,  and  by  the  partial  depreciation  of  the  coin,  is  a  fact 
not  to  be  disguised.  The  Seisachtheia  of  Solon,  unjust  so  far 


214    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

as  it  rescinded  previous  agreements,  but  highly  salutary  in  its 
consequences,  is  to  be  vindicated  by  showing  that  in  no  other 
way  could  the  bonds  of  government  have  been  held  together,  or 
the  misery  of  the  multitude  alleviated.  We  are  to  consider, 
first,  the  great  personal  cruelty  of  these  preexisting  contracts, 
which  condemned  the  body  of  the  free  debtor  and  his  family  to 
slavery ;  next,  the  profound  detestation  created  by  such  a  sys- 
tem in  the  large  mass  of  the  poor,  against  both  the  judges  and 
the  creditors  by  whom  it  had  been  enforced,  which  rendered 
their  feelings  unmanageable  so  soon  as  they  came  together  un- 
der the  sentiment  of  a  common  danger  and  with  the  determi- 
nation to  insure  to  each  other  mutual  protection.  Moreover, 
the  law  which  vests  a  creditor  with  power  over  the  person  of 
his  debtor  so  as  to  convert  him  into  a  slave,  is  likely  to  give 
rise  to  a  class  of  loans  which  inspire  nothing  but  abhorrence — 
money  lent  with  the  foreknowledge  that  the  borrower  will  be 
unable  to  repay  it,  but  also  in  the  conviction  that  the  value  of 
his  person  as  a  slave  will  make  good  the  loss ;  thus  reducing 
him  to  a  condition  of  extreme  misery,  for  the  purpose  some- 
times of  aggrandizing,  sometimes  of  enriching,  the  lender. 
Now  the  foundation  on  which  the  respect  for  contracts  rests, 
under  a  good  law  of  debtor  and  creditor,  is  the  very  reverse  of 
this.  It  rests  on  the  firm  conviction  that  such  contracts  are 
advantageous  to  both  parties  as  a  class,  and  that  to  break  up  the 
confidence  essential  to  their  existence  would  produce  extensive 
mischief  throughout  all  society.  The  man  whose  reverence  for 
the  obligation  of  a  contract  is  now  the  most  profound,  would 
have  entertained  a  very  different  sentiment  if  he  had  witnessed 
the  dealings  of  lender  and  borrower  at  Athens  under  the  old 
ante-Solonian  law.  The  oligarchy  had  tried  their  best  to  en- 
force this  law  of  debtor  and  creditor  with  its  disastrous  series 
of  contracts,  and  the  only  reason  why  they  consented  to  invoke 
the  aid  of  Solon  was  because  they  had  lost  the  power  of  en- 
forcing it  any  longer,  in  consequence  of  the  newly  awakened 
courage  and  combination  of  the  people.  That  which  they  could 
not  do  for  themselves,  Solon  could  not  have  done  for  them, 
even  had  he  been  willing.  Nor  had  he  in  his  position  the 
means  either  of  exempting  or  compensating  those  creditors 
who,  separately  taken,  were  open  to  no  reproach;  indeed,  in 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    215 

tollowing  his  proceedings,  we  see  plainly  that  he  thought  com- 
pensation due,  not  to  the  creditors,  but  to  the  past  sufferings 
of  the  enslaved  debtor,  since  he  redeemed  several  of  them  from 
foreign  captivity,  and  brought  them  back  to  their  homes.  It  is 
certain  that  no  measure  simply  and  exclusively  prospective 
would  have  sufficed  for  the  emergency.  There  was  an  absolute 
necessity  for  overruling  all  that  class  of  preexisting  rights 
which  had  produced  so  violent  a  social  fever.  While,  therefore, 
to  this  extent,  the  Seisachtheia  cannot  be  acquitted  of  injustice, 
we  may  confidently  affirm  that  the  injustice  inflicted  was  an 
indispensable  price  paid  for  the  maintenance  of  the  peace  of 
society,  and  for  the  final  abrogation  of  a  disastrous  system  as 
regarded  insolvents.  And  the  feeling  as  well  as  the  legislation 
universal  in  the  modern  European  world,  by  interdicting  before- 
hand all  contracts  for  selling  a  man's  person  or  that  of  his  chil- 
dren into  slavery,  goes  far  to  sanction  practically  the  Solonian 
repudiation. 

One  thing  is  never  to  be  forgotten  in  regard  to  this  meas- 
ure, combined  with  the  concurrent  amendments  introduced  by 
Solon  in  the  law — it  settled  finally  the  question  to  which  it  re- 
ferred. Never  again  do  we  hear  of  the  law  of  debtor  and  credi- 
tor as  disturbing  Athenian  tranquillity.  The  general  sentiment 
which  grew  up  at  Athens,  under  the  Solonian  money-law  and 
under  the  democratical  government,  was  one  of  high  respect  for 
the  sanctity  of  contracts.  Not  only  was  there  never  any  de- 
mand in  the  Athenian  democracy  for  new  tables  or  a  deprecia- 
tion of  the  money  standard,  but  a  formal  abnegation  of  any 
such  projects  was  inserted  in  the  solemn  oath  taken  annually 
by  the  numerous  Dicasts,  who  formed  the  popular  judicial  body 
called  Heliasa  or  the  Heliastic  jurors:  the  same  oath  which 
pledged  them  to  uphold  the  democratical  constitution,  also 
bound  them  to  repudiate  all  proposals  either  for  an  abrogation 
of  debts  or  for  a  redivision  of  the  lands.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  under  the  Solonian  law,  which  enabled  the  creditor 
to  seize  the  property  of  his  debtor,  but  gave  him  no  power  over 
the  person,  the  system  of  money-lending  assumed  a  more  bene- 
ficial character.  The  old  noxious  contracts,  mere  snares  for 
the  liberty  of  a  poor  freeman  and  his  children,  disappeared,  and 
loans  of  money  took  their  place,  founded  on  the  property  and 


prospective  earnings  of  the  debtor,  which  were  in  the  main  use- 
ful to  both  parties,  and  therefore  maintained  their  place  in  the 
moral  sentiment  of  the  public.  And  though  Solon  had  found 
himself  compelled  to  rescind  all  the  mortgages  on  land  subsist- 
ing in  his  time,  we  see  money  freely  lent  upon  this  same  secur- 
ity throughout  the  historical  times  of  Athens,  and  the  eviden- 
tiary mortgage-pillars  remaining  ever  after  undisturbed. 

In  the  sentiment  of  an  early  society,  as  in  the  old  Roman 
law,  a  distinction  is  commonly  made  between  the  principal  and 
the  interest  of  a  loan,  though  the  creditors  have  sought  to  blend 
them  indissolubly  together.  If  the  borrower  cannot  fulfil  his 
promise  to  repay  the  principal,  the  public  will  regard  him  as 
having  committed  a  wrong  which  he  must  make  good  by  his 
person.  But  there  is  not  the  same  unanimity  as  to  his  promise 
to  pay  interest :  on  the  contrary,  the  very  exaction  of  interest 
will  be  regarded  by  many  in  the  same  light  in  which  the  Eng- 
lish law  considers  usurious  interest,  as  tainting  the  whole  trans- 
action. But  in  the  modern  mind,  principal,  and  interest  within 
a  limited  rate,  have  so  grown  together,  that  we  hardly  under- 
stand how  it  can  ever  have  been  pronounced  unworthy  of  an 
honorable  citizen  to  lend  money  on  interest.  Yet  such  is  the 
declared  opinion  of  Aristotle  and  other  superior  men  of  an- 
tiquity ;  while  at  Rome,  Cato  the  censor  went  so  far  as  to  de- 
nounce the  practice  as  a  heinous  crime.  It  was  comprehended 
by  them  among  the  worst  of  the  tricks  of  trade — and  they  held 
that  all  trade,  or  profit  derived  from  interchange,  was  unnatural, 
as  being  made  by  one  man  at  the  expense  of  another :  such  pur- 
suits therefore  could  not  be  commended,  though  they  might  be 
tolerated  to  a  certain  extent  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  but  they 
belonged  essentially  to  an  inferior  order  of  citizens.  What  is 
remarkable  in  Greece  is,  that  the  antipathy  of  a  very  early  state 
of  society  against  traders  and  money-lenders  lasted  longer 
among  the  philosophers  than  among  the  mass  of  the  people — 
it  harmonized  more  with  the  social  idtal  of  the  former,  than 
with  the  practical  instincts  of  the  latter. 

In  a  rude  condition  such  as  that  of  the  ancient  Germans  de- 
scribed by  Tacitus,  loans  on  interest  are  unknown.  Habitually 
careless  of  the  future,  the  Germans  were  gratified  both  in  giv- 
ing and  receiving  presents,  but  without  any  idea  that  they 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    217 

thereby  either  imposed  or  contracted  an  obligation.  To  a  peo- 
ple in  this  state  of  feeling,  a  loan  on  interest  presents  the  re- 
pulsive idea  of  making  profit  out  of  the  distress  of  the  borrower. 
Moreover,  it  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  first  borrowers  must 
have  been  for  the  most  part  men  driven  to  this  necessity  by  the 
pressure  of  want,  and  contracting  debt  as  a  desperate  resource, 
without  any  fair  prospect  of  ability  to  repay :  debt  and  famine 
run  together  in  the  mind  of  the  poet  Hesiod.  The  borrower  is, 
in  this  unhappy  state,  rather  a  distressed  man  soliciting  aid 
than  a  solvent  man  capable  of  making  and  fulfilling  a  contract. 
If  he  cannot  find  a  friend  to  make  him  a  free  gift  in  the  former 
character,  he  will  not,  under  the  latter  character,  obtain  a  loan 
from  a  stranger,  except  by  the  promise  of  exorbitant  interest, 
and  by  the  fullest  eventual  power  over  his  person  which  he  is 
in  a  condition  to  grant.  In  process  of  time  a  new  class  of  bor- 
rowers arise  who  demand  money  for  temporary  convenience 
or  profit,  but  with  full  prospect  of  repayment — a  relation  of 
lender  and  borrower  quite  different  from  that  of  the  earlier 
period,  when  it  presented  itself  in  the  repulsive  form  of  misery 
on  the  one  side,  set  against  the  prospect  of  very  large  profit  on 
the  other.  If  the  Germans  of  the  time  of  Tacitus  looked  to  the 
condition  of  the  poor  debtors  in  Gaul,  reduced  to  servitude  un- 
der a  rich  creditor,  and  swelling  by  hundreds  the  crowd  of  his 
attendants,  they  would  not  be  disposed  to  regret  their  own 
ignorance  of  the  practice  of  money-lending.  How  much  the 
interest  of  money  was  then  regarded  as  an  undue  profit  extorted 
from  distress  is  powerfully  illustrated  by  the  old  Jewish  law ; 
the  Jew  being  permitted  to  take  interest  from  foreigners — whom 
the  lawgiver  did  not  think  himself  obliged  to  protect — but  not 
from  his  own  countrymen.  The  Koran  follows  out  this  point 
of  view  consistently,  and  prohibits  the  taking  of  interest  alto- 
gether. In  most  other  nations  laws  have  been  made  to  limit 
the  rate  of  interest,  and  at  Rome  especially  the  legal  rate  was 
successively  lowered — though  it  seems,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, that  the  restrictive  ordinances  were  constantly  eluded. 
All  such  restrictions  have  been  intended  for  the  protection  ot 
debtors ;  an  effect  which  large  experience  proves  them  never  to 
produce,  unless  it  be  called  protection  to  render  the  obtaining 
of  money  on  loan  impracticable  for  the  most  distressed  borrow- 


2i 8    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

ers.  But  there  was  another  effect  which  they  did  tend  to  pro- 
duce — they  softened  down  the  primitive  antipathy  against  the 
practice  generally,  and  confined  the  odious  name  of  usury  to 
loans  lent  above  the  fixed  legal  rate. 

In  this  way  alone  could  they  operate  beneficially,  and  their 
tendency  to  counterwork  the  previous  feeling  was  at  that  time 
not  unimportant,  coinciding  as  it  did  with  other  tendencies  aris- 
ing out  of  the  industrial  progress  of  society,  which  gradually 
exhibited  the  relation  of  lender  and  borrower  in  a  light  more 
reciprocal,  beneficial,  and  less  repugnant  to  the  sympathies  of 
the  bystander. 

At  Athens  the  more  favorable  point  of  view  prevailed 
throughout  all  the  historical  times.  The  march  of  industry  and 
commerce,  under  the  mitigated  law  which  prevailed  subse- 
quently to  Solon,  had  been  sufficient  to  bring  it  about  at  a  very 
early  period  and  to  suppress  all  public  antipathy  against  lenders 
at  interest.  We  may  remark,  too,  that  this  more  equitable  tone 
of  opinion  grew  up  spontaneously,  without  any  legal  restriction 
on  the  rate  of  interest — no  such  restriction  having  ever  been 
imposed  and  the  rate  being  expressly  declared  free  by  a  law 
ascribed  to  Solon  himself.  The  same  may  probably  be  said  of 
the  communities  of  Greece  generally — at  least  there  is  no  in- 
formation to  make  us  suppose  the  contrary.  But  the  feeling 
against  lending  money  at  interest  remained  in  the  bosoms  of 
the  philosophical  men  long  after  it  had  ceased  to  form  a  part  of 
the  practical  morality  of  the  citizens,  and  long  after  it  had 
ceased  to  be  justified  by  the  appearances  of  the  case  as  at  first 
it  really  had  been.  Plato,  Aristotle,  Cicero,  and  Plutarch,  treat 
the  practice  as  a  branch  of  the  commercial  and  money-getting 
spirit  which  they  are  anxious  to  discourage;  and  one  conse- 
quence of  this  was  that  they  were  less  disposed  to  contend 
strenuously  for  the  inviolability  of  existing  money-contracts. 
The  conservative  feeling  on  this  point  was  stronger  among  the 
mass  than  among  the  philosophers.  Plato  even  complains  of  it 
as  inconveniently  preponderant,  and  as  arresting  the  legislator 
in  all  comprehensive  projects  of  reform.  For  the  most  part,  in- 
deed, schemes  of  cancelling  debts  and  redividing  lands  were 
never  thought  of  except  by  men  of  desperate  and  selfish  ambi- 
tion, who  made  them  stepping-stones  to  despotic  power.  Such 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    219 

men  were  denounced  alike  by  the  practical  sense  of  the  com- 
munity and  by  the  speculative  thinkers :  but  when  we  turn  to 
the  case  of  the  Spartan  king,  Agis  III,  who  proposed  a  com- 
plete extinction  of  debts  and  an  equal  redivision  of  the  landed 
property  of  the  state,  not  with  any  selfish  or  personal  views, 
but  upon  pure  ideas  of  patriotism,  well  or  ill  understood,  and 
for  the  purpose  of  renovating  the  lost  ascendancy  of  Sparta — 
we  find  Plutarch  expressing  the  most  unqualified  admiration  of 
this  young  king  and  his  projects,  and  treating  the  opposition 
made  to  him  as  originating  in  no  better  feelings  than  meanness 
and  cupidity.  The  philosophical  thinkers  on  politics  conceived 
— and  to  a  great  degree  justly,  as  I  shall  show  hereafter— that 
the  conditions  of  security,  in  the  ancient  world,  imposed  upon 
the  citizens  generally  the  absolute  necessity  of  keeping  up  a 
military  spirit  and  willingness  to  brave  at  all  times  personal 
hardship  and  discomfort :  so  that  increase  of  wealth,  on  account 
of  the  habits  of  self-indulgence  which  it  commonly  introduces, 
was  regarded  by  them  with  more  or  less  of  disfavor.  If  in 
their  estimation  any  Grecian  community  had  become  corrupt, 
they  were  willing  to  sanction  great  interference  with  preexist- 
ing rights  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  it  back  nearer  to  their 
ideal  standard.  And  the  real  security  for  the  maintenance  of 
these  rights  lay  in  the  conservative  feelings  of  the  citizens  gen- 
erally, much  more  than  in  the  opinions  which  superior  minds 
imbibed  from  the  philosophers. 

Such  conservative  feelings  were  in  the  subsequent  Athe- 
nian democracy  peculiarly  deep-rooted.  The  mass  of  the  Athe- 
nian people  identified  inseparably  the  maintenance  of  property 
in  all  its  various  shapes  with  that  of  their  laws  and  constitution. 
And  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  though  the  admiration  enter- 
tained at  Athens  for  Solon  was  universal,  the  principle  of  his 
Seisachtheia  and  of  his  money-depreciation  was  not  only  never 
imitated,  but  found  the  strongest  tacit  reprobation ;  whereas  at 
Rome,  as  well  as  in  most  of  the  kingdoms  of  modern  Europe, 
we  know  that  one  debasement  of  the  coin  succeeded  another. 
The  temptation  of  thus  partially  eluding  the  pressure  of  finan- 
cial embarrassments  proved,  after  one  successful  trial,  too 
strong  to  be  resisted,  and  brought  down  the  coin  by  successive 
depreciations  from  the  full  pound  of  twelve  ounces  to  the 


220   SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

standard  of  one  half  ounce.  It  is  of  some  importance  to  take 
notice  of  this  fact,  when  we  reflect  how  much  "  Grecian  faith  " 
has  been  degraded  by  the  Roman  writers  into  a  byword  for 
duplicity  in  pecuniary  dealings.  The  democracy  of  Athens 
— and  indeed  the  cities  of  Greece  generally,  both  oligarchies  and 
democracies — stands  far  above  the  senate  of  Rome,  and  far 
above  the  modern  kingdoms  of  France  and  England  until  com- 
paratively recent  times,  in  respect  of  honest  dealing  with  the 
coinage.  Moreover,  while  there  occurred  at  Rome  several 
political  changes  which  brought  about  new  tables,  or  at  least  a 
partial  depreciation  of  contracts,  no  phenomenon  of  the  same 
kind  ever  happened  at  Athens,  during  the  three  centuries  be- 
tween Solon  and  the  end  of  the  free  working  of  the  democracy. 
Doubtless  there  were  fraudulent  debtors  at  Athens ;  while  the 
administration  of  private  law,  though  not  in  any  way  conniving 
at  their  proceedings,  was  far  too  imperfect  to  repress  them  as 
effectually  as  might  have  been  wished.  But  the  public  senti- 
ment on  the  point  was  just  and  decided.  It  may  be  asserted 
with  confidence  that  a  loan  of  money  at  Athens  was  quite  as 
secure  as  it  ever  was  at  any  time  or  place  of  the  ancient  world 
— in  spite  of  the  great  and  important  superiority  of  Rome  with 
respect  to  the  accumulation  of  a  body  of  authoritative  legal 
precedent,  the  source  of  what  was  ultimately  shaped  into  the 
Roman  jurisprudence.  Among  the  various  causes  of  sedition 
or  mischief  in  the  Grecian  communities,  we  hear  little  of  the 
pressure  of  private  debt. 

By  the  measures  of  relief  above  described,  Solon  had  ac- 
complished results  surpassing  his  own  best  hopes.  He  had 
healed  the  prevailing  discontents ;  and  such  was  the  confidence 
and  gratitude  which  he  had  inspired,  that  he  was  now  called 
upon  to  draw  up  a  constitution  and  laws  for  the  better  working 
of  the  government  in  future.  His  constitutional  changes  were 
great  and  valuable :  respecting  his  laws,  what  we  hear  is  rather 
curious  than  important. 

It  has  been  already  stated  that,  down  to  the  time  of  Solon, 
the  classification  received  in  Attica  was  that  of  the  four  Ionic 
tribes,  comprising  in  one  scale  the  Phratries  and  Gentes,  and  in 
another  scale  the  three  Trittyes  and  forty-eight  Naucraries — 
while  the  Eupatridae,  seemingly  a  few  specially  respected 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    221 

gentes,  and  perhaps  a  few  distinguished  families  in  all  the 
gentes,  had  in  their  hands  all  the  powers  of  government. 
Solon  introduced  a  new  principle  of  classification — called  in 
Greek  the  "  timocratic  principle."  He  distributed  all  the  citizens 
of  the  tribes,  without  any  reference  to  their  gentes  or  phratries, 
into  four  classes,  according  to  the  amount  of  their  property, 
which  he  caused  to  be  assessed  and  entered  in  a  public  sched- 
ule. Those  whose  annual  income  was  equal  to  five  hundred 
medimni  of  corn  (about  seven  hundred  imperial  bushels)  and 
upward — one  medimnus  being  considered  equivalent  to  one 
drachma  in  money — he  placed  in  the  highest  class ;  those  who 
received  between  three  hundred  and  five  hundred  medimni  or 
drachmas  formed  the  second  class;  and  those  between  two 
hundred  and  three  hundred,  the  third.  The  fourth  and  most 
numerous  class  comprised  all  those  who  did  not  possess  land 
yielding  a  produce  equal  to  two  hundred  medimni.  The  first 
class,  called  Pentacosiomedimni,  were  alone  eligible  to  the 
archonship  and  to  all  commands :  the  second  were  called  the 
knights  or  horsemen  of  the  state,  as  possessing  enough  to  en- 
able them  to  keep  a  horse  and  perform  military  service  in  that 
capacity :  the  third  class,  called  the  Zeugitae,  formed  the  heavy- 
armed  infantry,  and  were  bound  to  serve,  each  with  his  full 
panoply.  Each  of  these  three  classes  was  entered  in  the  pub- 
lic schedule  as  possessed  of  a  taxable  capital  calculated  with  a 
certain  reference  to  his  annual  income,  but  in  a  proportion 
diminishing  according  to  the  scale  of  that  income — and  a  man 
paid  taxes  to  the  state  according  to  the  sum  for  which  he  stood 
rated  in  the  schedule ;  so  that  this  direct  taxation  acted  really 
like  a  graduated  income-tax.  The  ratable  property  of  the  citi- 
zen belonging  to  the  richest  class  (the  Pentacosiomedimnus) 
was  calculated  and  entered  on  the  state  schedule  at  a  sum  of 
capital  equal  to  twelve  times  his  annual  income ;  that  of  the 
Hippeus,  horseman  or  knight,  at  a  sum  equal  to  ten  times  his 
annual  income:  that  of  the  Zeugite,  at  a  sum  equal  to  five 
times  his  annual  income.  Thus  a  Pentacosiomedimnus,  whose 
income  was  exactly  500  drachmas  (the  minimum  qualification 
of  his  class),  stood  rated  in  the  schedule  for  a  taxable  property 
of  6,000  drachmas  or  one  talent,  being  twelve  times  his  income 
— if  his  annual  income  were  1,000  drachmas,  he  would  stand 


222    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

rated  for  12,000  drachmas  or  two  talents,  being  the  same  pro- 
portion of  income  to  ratable  capital.  But  when  we  pass  to  the 
second  class,  horsemen  or  knights,  the  proportion  of  the  two  is 
changed.  The  horseman  possessing  an  income  of  just  300 
drachmas  (or  300  medimni)  would  stand  rated  for  3,000  drach- 
mas, or  ten  times  his  real  income,  and  so  in  the  same  propor- 
tion for  any  income  above  300  and  below  500.  Again,  in  the 
third  class,  or  below  300,  the  proportion  is  a  second  time  altered 
— the  Zeugite  possessing  exactly  200  drachmas  of  income  was 
rated  upon  a  still  lower  calculation,  at  1,000  drachmas,  or  a  sum 
equal  to  five  times  his  income ;  and  all  incomes  of  this  class 
(between  200  and  300  drachmas)  would  in  like  manner  be  mul- 
tiplied by  five  in  order  to  obtain  the  amount  of  ratable  capital. 
Upon  these  respective  sums  of  schedule  capital  all  direct  tax- 
ation was  levied.  If  the  state  required  I  per  cent,  of  direct 
tax,  the  poorest  Pentacosiomedimnus  would  pay  (upon  6,000 
drachmas)  60  drachmas;  the  poorest  Hippeus  would  pay  (upon 
3,000  drachmas)  30;  the  poorest  Zeugite  would  pay  (upon 
1,000  drachmas)  10  drachmas.  And  thus  this  mode  of  assess- 
ment would  operate  like  a  graduated  income-tax,  looking  at  it 
in  reference  to  the  three  different  classes — but  as  an  equal  in- 
come tax,  looking  at  it  in  reference  to  the  different  individuals 
comprised  in  one  and  the  same  class. 

All  persons  in  the  state  whose  annual  income  amounted  to 
less  than  two  hundred  medimni  or  drachmas  were  placed  in  the 
fourth  class,  and  they  must  have  constituted  the  large  majority 
of  the  community.  They  were  not  liable  to  any  direct  taxation, 
and  perhaps  were  not  at  first  even  entered  upon  the  taxable 
schedule,  more  especially  as  we  do  not  know  that  any  taxes 
were  actually  levied  upon  this  schedule  during  the  Solonian 
times.  It  is  said  that  they  were  all  called  Thetes,  but  this  ap- 
pellation is  not  well  sustained,  and  cannot  be  admitted:  the 
fourth  compartment  in  the  descending  scale  was  indeed  termed 
the  Thetic  census,  because  it  contained  all  the  Thetes,  and  be- 
cause most  of  its  members  were  of  that  humble  description ; 
but  it  is  not  conceivable  that  a  proprietor  whose  land  yielded 
to  him  a  clear  annual  return  of  100,  120,  140,  or  180  drachmas, 
could  ever  have  been  designated  by  that  name. 

Such  were  the  divisions  in  the  political  scale  established  by 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    223 

Solon,  called  by  Aristotle  a  timocracy,  in  which  the  rights, 
honors,  functions,  and  liabilities  of  the  citizens  were  measured 
out  according  to  the  assessed  property  of  each.  The  highest 
honors  of  the  state — that  is,  the  places  of  the  nine  archons  an- 
nually chosen,  as  well  as  those  in  the  senate  of  Areopagus,  into 
which  the  past  archons  always  entered  (perhaps  also  the  posts 
of  Prytanes  of  the  Naukrari)  were  reserved  for  the  first  class : 
the  poor  Eupatrids  became  ineligible,  while  rich  men,  not  Eu- 
patrids,  were  admitted.  Other  posts  of  inferior  distinction  were 
filled  by  the  second  and  third  classes,  who  were,  moreover,  bound 
to  military  service — the  one  on  horseback,  the  other  as  heavy- 
armed  soldiers  on  foot.  Moreover,  the  •  liturgies  of  the  state, 
as  they  were  called — unpaid  functions  such  as  the  trierarchy, 
choregy,  gymnasiarchy,  etc.,  which  entailed  expense  and  trouble 
on  the  holder  of  them — were  distributed  in  some  way  or  other 
between  the  members  of  the  three  classes,  though  we  do  not 
know  how  the  distribution  was  made  in  these  early  times.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  members  of  the  fourth  or  lowest  class  were 
disqualified  from  holding  any  individual  office  of  dignity.  They 
performed  no  liturgies,  served  in  case  of  war  only  as  light-armed 
or  with  a  panoply  provided  by  the  state,  and  paid  nothing  to 
the  direct  property-tax  or  Eisphora.  It  would  be  incorrect  to 
say  that  they  paid  no  taxes,  for  indirect  taxes,  such  as  duties  on 
imports,  fell  upon  them  in  common  with  the  rest ;  and  we  must 
recollect  that  these  latter  were,  throughout  a  long  period  of 
Athenian  history,  in  steady  operation,  while  the  direct  taxes 
were  only  levied  on  rare  occasions. 

But  though  this  fourth  class,  constituting  the  great  numeri- 
cal majority  of  the  free  people,  were  shut  out  from  individual 
office,  their  collective  importance  was  in  another  way  greatly 
increased.  They  were  invested  with  the  right  of  choosing  the 
annual  archons,  out  of  the  class  of  Pentacosiomedimni ;  and 
what  was  of  more  importance  still,  the  archons  and  the  magis- 
trates generally,  after  their  year  of  office,  instead  of  being  ac- 
countable to  the  senate  of  Areopagus,  were  made  formally  ac- 
countable to  the  public  assembly  sitting  in  judgment  upon  their 
past  conduct.  They  might  be  impeached  and  called  upon  to  de- 
fend themselves,  punished  in  case  of  misbehavior,  and  debarred 
from  the  usual  honor  of  a  seat  in  the  senate  of  Areopagus. 


224    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

Had  the  public  assembly  been  called  upon  to  act  alone  with- 
out aid  or  guidance,  this  accountability  would  have  proved  only 
nominal.  But  Solon  converted  it  into  a  reality  by  another  new 
institution,  which  will  hereafter  be  found  of  great  moment  in 
the  working  out  of  the  Athenian  democracy.  He  created  the 
pro-bouleutic,  or  pre-considering  senate,  with  intimate  and  espe- 
cial reference  to  the  public  assembly — to  prepare  matters  for  its 
discussion,  to  convoke  and  superintend  its  meetings,  and  to  in- 
sure the  execution  of  its  decrees.  The  senate,  as  first  consti- 
tuted by  Solon,  comprised  four  hundred  members,  taken  in 
equal  proportions  from  the  four  tribes ;  not  chosen  by  lot,  as 
they  will  be  found  to  be  in  the  more  advanced  stage  of  the 
democracy,  but  elected  by  the  people,  in  the  same  way  as  the 
archons  then  were — persons  of  the  fourth,  or  poorest  class  of 
the  census,  though  contributing  to  elect,  not  being  themselves 
eligible. 

But  while  Solon  thus  created  the  new  pre-considering  sen- 
ate, identified  with  and  subsidiary  to  the  popular  assembly,  he 
manifested  no  jealousy  of  the  preexisting  Areopagitic  senate. 
On  the  contrary,  he  enlarged  its  powers,  gave  to  it  an  ample 
supervision  over  the  execution  of  the  laws  generally,  and  im- 
posed upon  it  the  censorial  duty  of  inspecting  the  lives  and 
occupation  of  the  citizens,  as  well  as  of  punishing  men  of  idle 
and  dissolute  habits.  He  was  himself,  as  past  archon,  a  mem- 
ber of  this  ancient  senate,  and  he  is  said  to  have  contemplated 
that  by  means  of  the  two  senates  the  state  would  be  held  fast, 
as  it  were  with  a  double  anchor,  against  all  shocks  and  storms. 

Such  are  the  only  new  political  institutions  (apart  from  the 
laws  to  be  noticed  presently)  which  there  are  grounds  for 
ascribing  to  Solon,  when  we  take  proper  care  to  discriminate 
what  really  belongs  to  Solon  and  his  age  from  the  Athenian 
constitution  as  afterward  remodelled.  It  has  been  a  practice 
common  with  many  able  expositors  of  Grecian  affairs,  and  fol- 
lowed partly  even  by  Dr.  Thirlwall,  to  connect  the  name  of 
Solon  with  the  whole  political  and  judicial  state  of  Athens  as  it 
stood  between  the  age  of  Pericles  and  that  of  Demosthenes— the 
regulations  of  the  senate  of  five  hundred,  the  numerous  public 
dicasts  or  jurors  taken  by  lot  from  the  people— as  well  as  the  body 
annually  selected  for  law-revision,  and  called  nomothets—vs\&  the 


SOLON'S  EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION  225 

open  prosecution  (called  the  graphe  paranomoii)  to  be  instituted 
against  the  proposer  of  any  measure  illegal,  unconstitutional,  or 
dangerous.  There  is  indeed  some  countenance  for  this  confu- 
sion between  Solonian  and  post-Solonian  Athens,  in  the  usage 
of  the  orators  themselves.  For  Demosthenes  and  ^Eschines 
employ  the  name  of  Solon  in  a  very  loose  manner,  and  treat 
him  as  the  author  of  institutions  belonging  evidently  to  a  later 
age — for  example :  the  striking  and  characteristic  oath  of  the 
Heliastic  jurors,  which  Demosthenes  ascribes  to  Solon,  pro- 
claims itself  in  many  ways  as  belonging  to  the  age  after  Clis- 
thenes,  especially  by  the  mention  of  the  senate  of  five  hundred, 
and  not  of  four  hundred.  Among  the  citizens  who  served  as 
jurors  or  dicasts,  Solon  was  venerated  generally  as  the  author 
of  the  Athenian  laws.  An  orator,  therefore,  might  well  em- 
ploy his  name  for  the  purpose  of  emphasis,  without  provoking 
any  critical  inquiry  whether  the  particular  institution,  which  he 
happened  to  be  then  impressing  upon  his  audience,  belonged 
really  to  Solon  himself  or  to  the  subsequent  periods.  Many  of 
those  institutions,  which  Dr.  Thirl  wall  mentions  in  conjunction 
with  the  name  of  Solon,  are  among  the  last  refinements  and 
elaborations  of  the  democratical  mind  of  Athens — gradually 
prepared,  doubtless,  during  the  interval  between  Clisthenes 
and  Pericles,  but  not  brought  into  full  operation  until  the  pe- 
riod of  the  latter  (B.C.  460-429).  For  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
conceive  these  numerous  dicasteries  and  assemblies  in  regular, 
frequent,  and  long-standing  operation,  without  an  assured  pay- 
ment to  the  dicasts  who  composed  them.  Now  such  payment 
first  began  to  be  made  about  the  time  of  Pericles,  if  not  By  his 
actual  proposition ;  and  Demosthenes  had  good  reason  for  con- 
tending that  if  it  were  suspended,  the  judicial  as  well  as  the 
administrative  system  of  Athens  would  at  once  fall  to  pieces. 
It  would  be  a  marvel,  such  as  nothing  short  of  strong  direct 
evidence  would  justify  us  in  believing,  that  in  an  age  when  even 
partial  democracy  was  yet  untried,  Solon  should  conceive  the 
idea  of  such  institutions ;  it  would  be  a  marvel  still  greater,  that 
the  half -emancipated  Thetes  and  small  proprietors,  for  whom 
he  legislated — yet  trembling  under  the  rod  of  the  Eupatrid 
archons,  and  utterly  inexperienced  in  collective  business — 
should  have  been  found  suddenly  competent  to  fulfil  these 
H.  E.,  VOL.  i.— 1£ 


226    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

ascendant  functions,  such  as  the  citizens  of  conquering  Athens 
in  the  days  of  Pericles,  full  of  the  sentiment  of  force  and  ac- 
tively identifying  themselves  with  the  dignity  of  their  commu- 
nity, became  gradually  competent,  and  not  more  than  com- 
petent, to  exercise  with  effect.  To  suppose  that  Solon 
contemplated  and  provided  for  the  periodical  revision  of  his 
laws  by  establishing  a  nomothetic  jury  or  dicastery,  such  as 
that  which  we  find  in  operation  during  the  time  of  Demos- 
thenes, would  be  at  variance  (in  my  judgment)  with  any  rea 
sonable  estimate  either  of  the  man  or  of  the  age.  Herodotus 
says  that  Solon,  having  exacted  from  the  Athenians  solemn 
oaths  that  they  would  not  rescind  any  of  his  laws  for  ten  years, 
quitted  Athens  for  that  period,  in  order  that  he  might  not  be 
compelled  to  rescind  them  himself.  Plutarch  informs  us  that 
he  gave  to  his  laws  force  for  a  century.  Solon  himself,  and 
Draco  before  him,  had  been  lawgivers  evoked  and  empow- 
ered by  the  special  emergency  of  the  times :  the  idea  of  a  fre- 
quent revision  of  laws,  by  a  body  of  lot-selected  dicasts,  belongs 
to  a  far  more  advanced  age,  and  could  not  well  have  been  pres- 
ent to  the  minds  of  either.  The  wooden  rollers  of  Solon,  like 
the  tables  of  the  Roman  decemvirs,  were  doubtless  intended  as 
a  permanent  "fans  omnis publici privatique juris" 

If  we  examine  the  facts  of  the  case,  we  shall  see  that  noth- 
ing more  than  the  bare  foundation  of  the  democracy  of  Athens 
as  it  stood  in  the  time  of  Pericles  can  reasonably  be  ascribed 
to  Solon.  "I  gave  to  the  people  (Solon  says  in  one  of  his 
short  remaining  fragments)  as  much  strength  as  sufficed  for 
their  needs,  without  either  enlarging  or  diminishing  their  dig- 
nity :  for  those  too,  who  possessed  power  and  were  noted  for 
wealth,  I  took  care  that  no  unworthy  treatment  should  be  re- 
served. I  stood  with  the  strong  shield  cast  over  both  parties 
so  as  not  to  allow  an  unjust  triumph  to  either."  Again,  Aris- 
totle tells  us  that  Solon  bestowed  upon  the  people  as  much 
power  as  was  indispensable,  but  no  more :  the  power  to  elect 
their  magistrates  and  hold  them  to  accountability :  if  the  peo- 
ple had  had  less  than  this,  they  could  not  have  been  expected 
to  remain  tranquil — they  would  have  been  in  slavery  and  hos- 
tile to  the  constitution.  Not  less  distinctly  does  Herodotus 
speak,  when  he  describes  the  revolution  subsequently  operated 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    227 

by  Clisthenes— the  latter  (he  tells  us)  found  "  the  Athenian 
people  excluded  from  everything."  These  passages  seem  posi- 
tively to  contradict  the  supposition,  in  itself  sufficiently  im- 
probable, that  Solon  is  the  author  of  the  peculiar  democratical 
institutions  of  Athens,  such  as  the  constant  and  numerous 
dicasts  for  judicial  trials  and  revision  of  laws.  The  genuine 
and  forward  democratical  movement  of  Athens  begins  only  with 
Clisthenes,  from  the  moment  when  that  distinguished  Alcmae- 
onid,  either  spontaneously,  or  from  finding  himself  worsted 
in  his  party  strife  with  Isagoras,  purchased  by  large  popular 
concessions  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  multitude  under  very 
dangerous  circumstances.  While  Solon,  in  his  own  statement 
as  well  as  in  that  of  Aristotle,  gave  to  the  people  as  much 
power  as  was  strictly  needful — but  no  more — Clisthenes  (to 
use  the  significant  phrase  of  Herodotus),  "  being  vanquished  in 
the  party  contest  with  his  rival,  took  the  people  into  partnership" 
It  was,  thus,  to  the  interests  of  the  weaker  section,  in  a  strife 
of  contending  nobles,  that  the  Athenian  people  owed  their  first 
admission  to  political  ascendancy — in  part,  at  least,  to  this 
cause,  though  the  proceedings  of  Clisthenes  indicate  a  hearty 
and  spontaneous  popular  sentiment.  But  such  constitutional 
admission  of  the  people  would  not  have  been  so  astonishingly 
fruitful  in  positive  results,  if  the  course  of  public  events  for  the 
half  century  after  Clisthenes  had  not  been  such  as  to  stimu- 
late most  powerfully  their  energy,  their  self-reliance,  their  mu- 
tual sympathies,  and  their  ambition.  I  shall  recount  in  a  future 
chapter  these  historical  causes,  which,  acting  upon  the  Athenian 
character,  gave  such  efficiency  and  expansion  to  the  great  demo- 
cratical impulse  communicated  by  Clisthenes :  at  present  it  is 
enough  to  remark  that  that  impulse  commences  properly  with 
Clisthenes,  and  not  with  Solon. 

But  the  Solonian  constitution,  though  only  the  foundation, 
was  yet  the  indispensable  foundation,  of  the  subsequent  democ- 
racy. And  if  the  discontents  of  the  miserable  Athenian  popu- 
lation, instead  of  experiencing  his  disinterested  and  healing 
management,  had  fallen  at  once  into  the  hands  of  selfish  power- 
seekers  like  Cylon  or  Pisistratus — the  memorable  expansion 
of  the  Athenian  mind  during  the  ensuing  century  would  never 
have  taken  place,  and  the  whole  subsequent  history  of  Greece 


would  probably  have  taken  a  different  course.  Solon  left  the 
essential  powers  of  the  state  still  in  the  hands  of  the  oligarchy. 
The  party  combats  between  Pisistratus,  Lycurgus,  and  Megacles, 
thirty  years  after  his  legislation,  which  ended  in  the  despotism 
of  Pisistratus,  will  appear  to  be  of  the  same  purely  oligarchical 
character  as  they  had  been  before  Solon  was  appointed  archon. 
But  the  oligarchy  which  he  established  was  very  different  from 
the  unmitigated  oligarchy  which  he  found,  so  teeming  with  op- 
pression and  so  destitute  of  redress,  as  his  own  poems  testify. 

It  was  he  who  first  gave  both  to  the  citizens  of  middling 
property  and  to  the  general  mass  a  locus  standi  against  the  Eu- 
patrids.  He  enabled  the  people  partially  to  protect  themselves, 
and  familiarized  them  with  the  idea  of  protecting  themselves, 
by  the  peaceful  exercise  of  a  constitutional  franchise.  The  new 
force,  through  which  this  protection  was  carried  into  effect,  was 
the  public  assembly  called  Helicea,  regularized  and  armed  with 
enlarged  prerogatives  and  further  strengthened  by  its  indis- 
pensable ally — the  pro-bouleutic,  or  pre-considering,  senate. 
Under  the  Solonian  constitution,  this  force  was  merely  secondary 
and  defensive,  but  after  the  renovation  of  Clisthenes  it  became 
paramount  and  sovereign.  It  branched  out  gradually  into  those 
numerous  popular  dicasteries  which  so  powerfully  modified  both 
public  and  private  Athenian  life,  drew  to  itself  the  undivided 
reverence  and  submission  of  the  people,  and  by  degrees  ren- 
dered the  single  magistracies  essentially  subordinate  functions. 
The  popular  assembly,  as  constituted  by  Solon,  appearing  in 
modified  efficiency  and  trained  to  the  office  of  reviewing  and 
judging  the  general  conduct  of  a  past  magistrate — forms  the 
intermediate  stage  between  the  passive  Homeric  agora  and 
those  omnipotent  assemblies  and  dicasteries  which  listened  to 
Pericles  or  Demosthenes.  Compared  with  these  last,  it  has  in 
it  but  a  faint  streak  of  democracy — and  so  it  naturally  appeared 
to  Aristotle,  who  wrote  with  a  practical  experience  of  Athens  in 
the  time  of  the  orators ;  but  compared  with  the  first,  or  with 
the  ante-Solonian  constitution  of  Attica,  it  must  doubtless  have 
appeared  a  concession  eminently  democratical.  To  impose 
upon  the  Eupatrid  archon  the  necessity  of  being  elected,  or  put 
upon  his  trial  of  after-accountability,  by  the  rabble  of  freemen 
(such  would  be  the  phrase  in  Eupatrid  society),  would  be  a 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    229 

bitter  humiliation  to  those  among  whom  it  was  first  introduced ; 
for  we  must  recollect  that  this  was  the  most  extensive  scheme 
of  constitutional  reform  yet  propounded  in  Greece,  and  that 
despots  and  oligarchies  snared  between  them  at  that  time  the 
whole  Grecian  world.  As  it  appears  that  Solon,  while  consti- 
tuting the  popular  assembly  with  its  pro-bouleutic  senate,  had 
no  jealousy  of  the  senate  of  Areopagus,  and  indeed,  even  en- 
larged its  powers,  we  may  infer  that  his  grand  object  was,  not 
to  weaken  the  oligarchy  generally,  but  to  improve  the  admin- 
istration and  to  repress  the  misconduct  and  irregularities  of  the 
individual  archons ;  and  that,  too,  not  by  diminishing  their  pow- 
ers, but  by  making  some  degree  of  popularity  the  condition 
both  of  their  entry  into  office,  and  of  their  safety  or  honor 
after  it. 

It  is,  in  my  judgment,  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Solon  trans- 
ferred the  judicial  power  of  the  archons  to  a  popular  dicastery. 
These  magistrates  still  continued  self-acting  judges,  deciding 
and  condemning  without  appeal — not  mere  presidents  of  an  as- 
sembled jury,  as  they  afterward  came  to  be  during  the  next 
century.  For  the  general  exercise  of  such  power  they  were 
accountable  after  their  year  of  office.  Such  accountability  was 
the  security  against  abuse — a  very  insufficient  security,  yet  not 
wholly  inoperative.  It  will  be  seen,  however,  presently  that 
these  archons,  though  strong  to  coerce,  and  perhaps  to  oppress, 
small  and  poor  men,  had  no  means  of  keeping  down  rebellious 
nobles  of  their  own  rank,  such  as  Pisistratus,  Lycurgus,  and 
Megacles,  each  with  his  armed  followers.  When  we  compare 
the  drawn  swords  of  these  ambitious  competitors,  ending  in  the 
despotism  of  one  of  them,  with  the  vehement  parliamentary 
strife  between  Themistocles  and  Aristides  afterward,  peace- 
ably decided  by  the  vote  of  the  sovereign  people  and  never  dis- 
turbing the  public  tranquillity — we  shall  see  that  the  democracy 
of  the  ensuing  century  fulfilled  the  conditions  of  order,  as  well 
as  of  progress,  better  than  the  Solonian  constitution. 

To  distinguish  this  Solonian  constitution  from  the  democracy 
which  followed  it,  is  essential  to  a  due  comprehension  of  the 
progress  of  the  Greek  mind,  and  especially  of  Athenian  affairs. 
That  democracy  was  achieved  by  gradual  steps.  Demos- 
thenes and  ^Eschines  lived  under  it  as  a  system  consummated 


230    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

and  in  full  activity,  when  the  stages  of  its  previous  growth 
were  no  longer  matter  of  exact  memory ;  and  the  dicasts  then 
assembled  in  judgment  were  pleased  to  hear  their  constitution 
associated  with  the  names  either  of  Solon  or  of  Theseus.  Their 
inquisitive  contemporary  Aristotle  was  not  thus  misled:  but 
even  commonplace  Athenians  of  the  century  preceding  would 
have  escaped  the  same  delusion.  For  during  the  whole  course 
of  the  democratical  movement,  from  the  Persian  invasion 
down  to  the  Peloponnesian  war,  and  especially  during  the 
changes  proposed  by  Pericles  and  Ephialtes,  there  was  always 
a  strenuous  party  of  resistance,  who  would  not  suffer  the 
people  to  forget  that  they  had  already  forsaken,  and  were  on 
the  point  of  forsaking  still  more,  the  orbit  marked  out  by 
Solon.  The  illustrious  Pericles  underwent  innumerable  at- 
tacks both  from  the  orators  in  the  assembly  and  from  the  comic 
writers  in  the  theatre.  And  among  these  sarcasms  on  the  politi- 
cal tendencies  of  the  day  we  are  probably  to  number  the  com- 
plaint, breathed  by  the  poet  Cratinus,  of  the  desuetude  into 
which  both  Solon  and  Draco  had  fallen — "  I  swear  (said  he  in 
a  fragment  of  one  of  his  comedies)  by  Solon  and  Draco,  whose 
wooden  tablets  (of  laws)  are  now  employed  by  people  to  roast 
their  barley."  The  laws  of  Solon  respecting  penal  offences, 
respecting  inheritance  and  adoption,  respecting  the  private  rela- 
tions generally,  etc.,  remained  for  the  most  part  in  force :  his 
quadripartite  census  also  continued,  at  least  for  financial  pur- 
poses, until  the  archonship  of  Nausinicus  in  B.C.  377— so  that 
Cicero  and  others  might  be  warranted  in  affirming  that  his  laws 
still  prevailed  at  Athens :  but  his  political  and  judicial  arrange- 
ments had  undergone  a  revolution  not  less  complete  and  mem- 
orable than  the  character  and  spirit  of  the  Athenian  people 
generally.  The  choice,  by  way  of  lot,  of  archons  and  other 
magistrates — and  the  distribution  by  lot  of  the  general  body  of 
dicasts  or  jurors  into  panels  for  judicial  business — may  be  de- 
cidedly considered  as  not  belonging  to  Solon,  but  adopted  after 
the  revolution  of  Clisthenes ;  probably  the  choice  of  senators 
by  lot  also.  The  lot  was  a  symptom  of  pronounced  democrati- 
cal spirit,  such  as  we  must  not  seek  in  the  Solonian  institutions. 
It  is  not  easy  to  make  out  distinctly  what  was  the  political 
position  of  the  ancient  gentes  and  phratries,  as  Solon  left  them. 


SOLON'S    EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    231 

The  four  tribes  consisted  altogether  of  gentes  and  phratries, 
insomuch  that  no  one  could  be  included  in  any  one  of  the  tribes 
who  was  not  also  a  member  of  some  gens  and  phratry.  Now  the 
new  pro-bouleutic,  or  pre-considering,  senate  consisted  of  four 
hundred  members,— one  hundred  from  each  of  the  tribes:  per- 
sons not  included  in  any  gens  or  phratry  could  therefore  have 
had  no  access  to  it.  The  conditions  of  eligibility  were  similar, 
according  to  ancient  custom,  for  the  nine  archons — of  course, 
also,  for  the  senate  of  Areopagus.  So  that  there  remained  only 
the  public  assembly,  in  which  an  Athenian  not  a  member  of 
these  tribes  could  take  part:  yet  he  was  a  citizen,  since  he 
could  give  his  vote  for  archons  and  senators,  and  could  take 
part  in  the  annual  decision  of  their  accountability,  besides  being 
entitled  to  claim  redress  for  wrong  from  the  archons  in  his  own 
person — while  the  alien  could  only  do  so  through  the  interven- 
tion of  an  avouching  citizen  or  Prostates.  It  seems,  therefore, 
that  all  persons  not  included  in  the  four  tribes,  whatever  their 
grade  of  fortune  might  be,  were  on  the  same  level  in  respect  to 
political  privilege  as  the  fourth  and  poorest  class  of  the  Solonian 
census.  It  has  already  been  remarked,  that  even  before  the 
time  of  Solon  the  number  of  Athenians  not  included  in  the 
gentes  or  phratries  was  probably  considerable :  it  tended  to  be- 
come greater  and  greater,  since  these  bodies  were  close  and  un- 
expansive,  while  the  policy  of  the  new  lawgiver  tended  to  invite 
industrious  settlers  from  other  parts  of  Greece  and  Athens. 
Such  great  and  increasing  inequality  of  political  privilege  helps 
to  explain  the  weakness  of  the  government  in  repelling  the  ag- 
gressions of  Pisistratus,  and  exhibits  the  importance  of  the 
revolution  afterward  wrought  by  Clisthenes,  when  he  abol- 
ished (for  all  political  purposes)  the  four  old  tribes,  and  created 
ten  new  comprehensive  tribes  in  place  of  them. 

In  regard  to  the  regulations  of  the  senate  and  the  assembly 
of  the  people,  as  constituted  by  Solon,  we  are  altogether  with- 
out information :  nor  is  it  safe  to  transfer  to  the  Solonian  con- 
stitution the  information,  comparatively  ample,  which  we  pos- 
sess respecting  these  bodies  under  the  later  democracy. 

The  laws  of  Solon  were  inscribed  on  wooden  rollers  and 
triangular  tablets,  in  the  species  of  writing  called  Bonstrophe- 
don  (lines  alternating  first  from  left  to  right,  and  next  from 


232   SOLON'S  EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

right  to  left,  like  the  course  of  the  ploughman — and  preserved 
first  in  the  Acropolis,  subsequently  in  the  Prytaneum.  On 
the  tablets,  called  Cyrbis,  were  chiefly  commemorated  the 
laws  respecting  sacred  rites  and  sacrifices;  on  the  pillars  or 
rollers,  of  which  there  were  at  least  sixteen,  were  placed  the 
regulations  respecting  matters  profane.  So  small  are  the  frag- 
ments which  have  come  down  to  us,  and  so  much  has  been 
ascribed  to  Solon  by  the  orators  which  belongs  really  to  the 
subsequent  times,  that  it  is  hardly  possible  to  form  any  critical 
judgment  respecting  the  legislation  as  a  whole,  or  to  discover 
by  what  general  principles  or  purposes  he  was  guided. 

He  left  unchanged  all  the  previous  laws  and  practices  re- 
specting the  crime  of  homicide,  connected  as  they  were  inti- 
mately with  the  religious  feelings  of  the  people.  The  laws  of 
Draco  on  this  subject,  therefore,  remained,  but  on  other  sub- 
jects, according  to  Plutarch,  they  were  altogether  abrogated: 
there  is,  however,  room  for  supposing  that  the  repeal  cannot 
have  been  so  sweeping  as  this  biographer  represents. 

The  Solonian  laws  seem  to  have  borne  more  or  less  upon 
all  the  great  departments  of  human  interest  and  duty.  We 
find  regulations  political  and  religious,  public  and  private,  civil 
and  criminal,  commercial,  agricultural,  sumptuary,  and  disci- 
plinarian. Solon  provides  punishment  for  crimes,  restricts  the 
profession  and  status  of  the  citizen,  prescribes  detailed  rules  for 
marriage  as  well  as  for  burial,  for  the  common  use  of  springs 
and  wells,  and  for  the  mutual  interest  of  conterminous  farmers 
in  planting  or  hedging  their  properties.  As  far  as  we  can  judge 
from  the  imperfect  manner  in  which  his  laws  come  before  us, 
there  does  not  seem  to  have  been  any  attempt  at  a  systematic 
order  or  classification.  Some  of  them  are  mere  general  and 
vague  directions,  while  others  again  run  into  the  extreme  of 
specialty. 

By  far  the  most  important  of  all  was  the  amendment  of  the 
law  of  debtor  and  creditor  which  has  already  been  adverted  to, 
and  the  abolition  of  the  power  of  fathers  and  brothers  to  sell 
their  daughters  and  sisters  into  slavery.  The  prohibition  of  all 
contracts  on  the  security  of  the  body  was  itself  sufficient  to 
produce  a  vast  improvement  in  the  character  and  condition  of 
the  poorer  population, — a  result  which  seems  to  have  been  so 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    233 

sensibly  obtained  from  the  legislation  of  Solon,  that  Boeckh  and 
some  other  eminent  authors  suppose  him  to  have  abolished  vil- 
leinage and  conferred  upon  the  poor  tenants  a  property  in  their 
lands,  annulling  the  seigniorial  rights  of  the  landlord.  But  this 
opinion  rests  upon  no  positive  evidence,  nor  are  we  warranted 
in  ascribing  to  him  any  stronger  measure  in  reference  to  the 
land  than  the  annulment  of  the  previous  mortgages. 

The  first  pillar  of  his  laws  contained  a  regulation  respecting 
exportable  produce.  He  forbade  the  exportation  of  all  produce 
of  the  Attic  soil,  except  olive  oil  alone.  And  the  sanction  em- 
ployed to  enforce  observance  of  this  law  deserves  notice,  as  an 
illustration  of  the  ideas  of  the  time :  the  archon  was  bound,  on 
pain  of  forfeiting  one  hundred  drachmas,  to  pronounce  solemn 
curses  against  every  offender.  We  are  probably  to  take  this 
prohibition  in  conjunction  with  other  objects  said  to  have  been 
contemplated  by  Solon,  especially  the  encouragement  of  arti- 
sans and  manufacturers  at  Athens.  Observing  (we  are  told) 
that  many  new  immigrants  were  just  then  flocking  into  Attica 
to  seek  an  establishment,  in  consequence  of  its  greater  security, 
he  was  anxious  to  turn  them  rather  to  manufacturing  industry 
than  to  the  cultivation  of  a  soil  naturally  poor.  He  forbade  the 
granting  of  citizenship  to  any  immigrants,  except  to  such  as 
had  quitted  irrevocably  their  former  abodes  and  come  to  Athens 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  some  industrial  profession ;  and 
in  order  to  prevent  idleness,  he  directed  the  senate  of  Areopagus 
to  keep  watch  over  the  lives  of  the  citizens  generally,  and  pun- 
ish every  one  who  had  no  course  of  regular  labor  to  support 
him.  If  a  father  had  not  taught  his  son  some  art  or  profession, 
Solon  relieved  the  son  from  all  obligation  to  maintain  him  in 
his  old  age.  And  it  was  to  encourage  the  multiplication  of 
these  artisans  that  he  insured,  or  sought  to  insure,  to  the  resi- 
dents in  Attica,  the  exclusive  right  of  buying  and  consuming 
all  its  landed  produce  except  olive  oil,  which  was  raised  in  abun- 
dance, mere  than  sufficient  for  their  wants.  It  was  his  wish  that 
the  trade  with  foreigners  should  be  carried  on  by  exporting  the 
produce  of  artisan  labor,  instead  of  the  produce  of  land. 

This  commercial  prohibition  is  founded  on  principles  sub- 
stantially similar  to  those  which  were  acted  upon  in  the  early 
history  of  England,  with  reference  both  to  corn  and  to  wool,  and 


234   SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

in  other  European  countries  also.  In  so  far  as  it  was  at  all  opera- 
tive it  tended  to  lessen  the  total  quantity  of  produce  raised  upon 
the  soil  of  Attica,  and  thus  to  keep  the  price  of  it  from  rising. 
But  the  law  of  Solon  must  have  been  altogether  inoperative,  in 
reference  to  the  great  articles  of  human  subsistence ;  for  Attica 
imported,  both  largely  and  constantly,  grain  and  salt  provisions, 
probably  also  wool  and  flax  for  the  spinning  and  weaving  of 
the  women,  and  certainly  timber  for  building.  Whether  the 
law  was  ever  enforced  with  reference  to  figs  and  honey  may 
well  be  doubted ;  at  least  these  productions  of  Attica  were  in 
after  times  trafficked  in,  and  generally  consumed  throughout 
Greece.  Probably  also  in  the  time  of  Solon  the  silver  mines 
of  Laurium  had  hardly  begun  to  be  worked :  these  afterward 
became  highly  productive,  and  furnished  to  Athens  a  commod- 
ity for  foreign  payments  no  less  convenient  than  lucrative. 

It  is  interesting  to  notice  the  anxiety,  both  of  Solon  and  of 
Draco,  to  enforce  among  their  fellow-citizens  industrious  and 
self-maintaining  habits ;  and  we  shall  find  the  same  sentiment 
proclaimed  by  Pericles,  at  the  time  when  Athenian  power  was 
at  its  maximum.  Nor  ought  we  to  pass  over  this  early  mani- 
festation in  Attica  of  an  opinion  equitable  and  tolerant  toward 
sedentary  industry,  which  in  most  other  parts  of  Greece  was 
regarded  as  comparatively  dishonorable.  The  general  tone  of 
Grecian  sentiment  recognized  no  occupations  as  perfectly  wor- 
thy of  a  free  citizen  except  arms,  agriculture,  and  athletic  and 
musical  exercises;  and  the  proceedings  of  the  Spartans,  who 
kept  aloof  even  from  agriculture  and  left  it  to  their  helots, 
were  admired,  though  they  could  not  be  copied,  throughout 
most  of  the  Hellenic  world.  Even  minds  like  Plato,  Aristotle, 
and  Xenophon  concurred  to  a  considerable  extent  in  this  feel- 
ing, which  they  justified  on  the  ground  that  the  sedentary  life 
and  unceasing  house-work  of  the  artisan  were  inconsistent  with 
military  aptitude.  The  town-occupations  are  usually  described 
by  a  word  which  carries  with  it  contemptuous  ideas,  and  though 
recognized  as  indispensable  to  the  existence  of  the  city,  are 
held  suitable  only  for  an  inferior  and  semi-privileged  order  of 
citizens.  This,  the  received  sentiment  among  Greeks,  as  well 
as  foreigners,  found  a  strong  and  growing  opposition  at 
Athens,  as  I  have  already  said — corroborated  also  by  a  similar 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    235 

feeling  at  Corinth.  The  trade  of  Corinth,  as  well  as  of  Chalcis 
in  Eubcea,  was  extensive,  at  a  time  when  that  of  Athens  had 
scarce  any  existence.  But  while  the  despotism  of  Periander 
can  hardly  have  failed  to  operate  as  a  discouragement  to  indus- 
try at  Corinth,  the  contemporaneous  legislation  of  Solon  pro- 
vided for  traders  and  artisans  a  new  home  at  Athens,  giving 
the  first  encouragement  to  that  numerous  town-population 
both  in  the  city  and  in  the  Piraeus,  which  we  find  actually 
residing  there  in  the  succeeding  century.  The  multiplica- 
tion of  such  town  residents,  both  citizens  and  metics  (i.e., 
resident  persons,  not  citizens,  but  enjoying  an  assured  posi- 
tion and  civil  rights),  was  a  capital  fact  in .  the  onward 
march  of  Athens,  since  it  determined  not  merely  the  ex- 
tension of  her  trade,  but  also  the  preeminence  of  her  naval 
forces — and  thus,  as  a  further  consequence,  lent  extraordinary 
vigor  to  her  democratical  government.  It  seems,  moreover,  to 
have  been  a  departure  from  the  primitive  temper  of  Atticism, 
which  tended  both  to  cantonal  residence  and  rural  occupation. 
We  have,  therefore,  the  greater  interest  in  noting  the  first 
mention  of  it  as  a  consequence  of  the  Solonian  legislation. 

To  Solon  is  first  owing  the  admission  of  a  power  of  testa- 
mentary bequest  at  Athens  in  all  cases  in  which  a  man  had  no 
legitimate  children.  According  to  the  preexisting  custom,  we 
may  rather  presume  that  if  a  deceased  person  left  neither  chil- 
dren nor  blood  relations,  his  property  descended  (as  at  Rome) 
to  his  gens  and  phratry.  Throughout  most  rude  states  of  so- 
ciety the  power  of  willing  is  unknown,  as  among  the  ancient 
Germans — among  the  Romans  prior  to  the  twelve  tables — in 
the  old  laws  of  the  Hindus,  etc.  Society  limits  a  man's  inter- 
est or  power  of  enjoyment  to  his  life,  and  considers  his  rela- 
tives as  having  joint  reversionary  claims  to  his  property,  which 
take  effect,  in  certain  determinate  proportions,  after  his  death. 
Such  a  law  was  the  more  likely  to  prevail  at  Athens,  since  the 
perpetuity  of  the  family  sacred  rites,  in  which  the  children  and 
near  relatives  partook  of  right,  was  considered  by  the  Atheni- 
ans as  a  matter  of  public  as  well  as  of  private  concern.  Solon 
gave  permission  to  every  man  dying  without  children  to  be- 
queath his  property  by  will  as  he  should  think  fit ;  and  the  tes- 
tament was  maintained  unless  it  could  be  shown  to  have  been 


236   SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

procured  by  some  compulsion  or  improper  seduction.  Speak- 
ing generally,  this  continued  to  be  the  law  throughout  the  his- 
torical  times  of  Athens.  Sons,  wherever  there  were  sons,  suc- 
ceeded to  the  property  of  their  father  in  equal  shares,  with  the 
obligation  of  giving  out  their  sisters  in  marriage  along  with  a 
certain  dowry.  If  there  were  no  sons,  then  the  daughters  suc- 
ceeded, though  the  father  might  by  will,  within  certain  limits, 
determine  the  person  to  whom  they  should  be  married,  with 
their  rights  of  succession  attached  to  them ;  or  might,  with  the 
consent  of  his  daughters,  make  by  will  certain  other  arrange- 
ments about  his  property.  A  person  who  had  no  children  or 
direct  lineal  descendants  might  bequeath  his  property  at  pleas- 
ure :  if  he  died  without  a  will,  first  his  father,  then  his  brother 
or  brother's  children,  next  his  sister  or  sister's  children  suc- 
ceeded :  if  none  such  existed,  then  the  cousins  by  the  father's 
side,  next  the  cousins  by  the  mother's  side, — the  male  line 
of  descent  having  preference  over  the  female. 

Such  was  the  principle  of  the  Solonian  laws  of  succession, 
though  the  particulars  are  in  several  ways  obscure  and  doubt- 
ful. Solon,  it  appears,  was  the  first  who  gave  power  of 
superseding  by  testament  the  rights  of  agnates  and  gentiles 
to  succession, — a  proceeding  in  consonance  with  his  plan  of 
encouraging  both  industrious  occupation  and  the  consequent 
multiplication  of  individual  acquisitions. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  Solon  forbade  the  sale 
of  daughters  or  sisters  into  slavery  by  fathers  or  brothers ;  a 
prohibition  which  shows  how  much  females  had  before  been 
looked  upon  as  articles  of  property.  And  it  would  seem  that 
before  his  time  the  violation  of  a  free  woman  must  have  been 
punished  at  the  discretion  of  the  magistrates ;  for  we  are  told 
that  he  was  the  first  who  enacted  a  penalty  of  one  hundred 
drachmas  against  the  offender,  and  twenty  drachmas  against 
the  seducer  of  a  free  woman.  Moreover,  it  is  said  that  he 
forbade  a  bride  when  given  in  marriage  to  carry  with  her  any 
personal  ornaments  and  appurtenances,  except  to  the  extent  of 
three  robes  and  certain  matters  of  furniture  not  very  valuable. 
Solon  further  imposed  upon  women  several  restraints  in  regard 
to  proceeding  at  the  obsequies  of  deceased  relatives.  He  for- 
bade profuse  demonstrations  of  sorrow,  singing  of  composed 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION   237 

dirges,  and  costly  sacrifices  and  contributions.  He  limited 
strictly  the  quantity  of  meat  and  drink  admissible  for  the  fu- 
neral banquet,  and  prohibited  nocturnal  exit,  except  in  a  car 
and  with  a  light.  It  appears  that  both  in  Greece  and  Rome, 
the  feelings  of  duty  and  affection  on  the  part  of  surviving  rela- 
ties  prompted  them  to  ruinous  expense  in  a  funeral,  as  well  as 
to  unmeasured  effusions  both  of  grief  and  conviviality ;  and  the 
general  necessity  experienced  for  legal  restriction  is  attested 
by  the  remark  of  Plutarch,  that  similar  prohibitions  to  those 
enacted  by  Solon  were  likewise  in  force  at  his  native  town  of 
Chaeronea. 

Other  penal  enactments  of  Solon  are  yet  to  be  mentioned. 
He  forbade  absolutely  evil  speaking  with  respect  to  the  dead. 
He  forbade  it  likewise  with  respect  to  the  living,  either  in  a 
temple  or  before  judges  or  archons,  or  at  any  public  festival — 
on  pain  of  a  forfeit  of  three  drachmas  to  the  person  aggrieved, 
and  two  more  to  the  public  treasury.  How  mild  the  general 
character  of  his  punishments  was,  may  be  judged  by  this  law 
against  foul  language,  not  less  than  by  the  law  before  men- 
tioned against  rape.  Both  the  one  and  the  other  of  these 
offences  were  much  more  severely  dealt  with  under  the  subse- 
quent law  of  democratical  Athens.  The  peremptory  edict 
against  speaking  ill  of  a  deceased  person,  though  doubtless 
springing  in  a  great  degree  from  disinterested  repugnance,  is 
traceable  also  in  part  to  that  fear  of  the  wrath  of  the  departed 
which  strongly  possessed  the  early  Greek  mind. 

It  seems  generally  that  Solon  determined  by  law  the  outlay 
for  the  public  sacrifices,  though  we  do  not  know  what  were  his 
particular  directions.  We  are  told  that  he  reckoned  a  sheep 
and  a  medimnus  (of  wheat  or  barley  ?)  as  equivalent,  either  of 
them,  to  a  drachma,  and  that  he  also  prescribed  the  prices  to 
be  paid  for  first-rate  oxen  intended  for  solemn  occasions.  But 
it  astonishes  us  to  see  the  large  recompense  which  he  awarded 
out  of  the  public  treasury  to  a  victor  at  the  Olympic  or  Isth- 
mian games :  to  the  former,  five  hundred  drachmas,  equal  to 
one  year's  income  of  the  highest  of  the  four  classes  on  the  cen* 
sus ;  to  the  latter  one  hundred  drachmas.  The  magnitude  of 
these  rewards  strikes  us  the  more  when  we  compare  them  with 
the  fines  on  rape  and  evil  speaking.  We  cannot  be  surprised 


238    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION 

that  the  philosopher  Xenophanes  noticed,  with  some  degree 
of  severity,  the  extravagant  estimate  of  this  species  of  excel- 
lence, current  among  the  Grecian  cities.  At  the  same  time, 
we  must  remember  both  that  these  Pan-Hellenic  games  pre- 
sented the  chief  visible  evidence  of  peace  and  sympathy  among 
the  numerous  communities  of  Greece,  and  that  in  the  time  of 
Solon,  factitious  reward  was  still  needful  to  encourage  them. 
In  respect  to  land  and  agriculture  Solon  proclaimed  a  public 
reward  of  five  drachmas  for  every  wolf  brought  in,  and  one 
drachma  for  every  wolf's  cub ;  the  extent  of  wild  land  has  at 
all  times  been  considerable  in  Attica.  He  also  provided  rules 
respecting  the  use  of  wells  between  neighbors,  and  respecting 
the  planting  in  conterminous  olive  grounds.  Whether  any  of 
these  regulations  continued  in  operation  during  the  better- 
known  period  of  Athenian  history  cannot  be  safely  affirmed. 

In  respect  to  theft,  we  find  it  stated  that  Solon  repealed 
the  punishment  of  death  which  Draco  had  annexed  to  that 
crime,  and  enacted,  as  a  penalty,  compensation  to  an  amount 
double  the  value  of  the  property  stolen.  The  simplicity  of 
this  law  perhaps  affords  ground  for  presuming  that  it  really 
does  belong  to  Solon.  But  the  law  which  prevailed  during  the 
time  of  the  orators  respecting  theft  must  have  been  introduced 
at  some  later  period,  since  it  enters  into  distinctions  and  men- 
tions both  places  and  forms  of  procedure,  which  we  cannot 
reasonably  refer  to  the  forty-sixth  Olympiad.  The  public  din- 
ners at  the  Prytaneum,  of  which  the  archons  and  a  select  few 
partook  in  common,  were  also  either  first  established,  or  per- 
haps only  more  strictly  regulated,  by  Solon.  He  ordered  bar- 
ley cakes  for  their  ordinary  meals,  and  wheaten  loaves  for  fes- 
tival days,  prescribing  how  often  each  person  should  dine  at 
the  table.  The  honor  of  dining  at  the  table  of  the  Prytaneum 
was  maintained  throughout  as  a  valuable  reward  at  the  dispo- 
sal of  the  government. 

Among  the  various  laws  of  Solon,  there  are  few  which  have 
attracted  more  notice  than  that  which  pronounces  the  man 
who  in  a  sedition  stood  aloof,  and  took  part  with  neither  side, 
to  be  dishonored  and  disfranchised.  Strictly  speaking,  this 
seems  more  in  the  nature  of  an  emphatic  moral  denunciation, 
or  a  religious  curse,  than  a  legal  sanction  capable  of  being  for- 


SOLON'S    EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    239 

mally  applied  in  an  individual  case  and  after  judicial  trial, — 
though  the  sentence  of  atimy,  under  the  more  elaborated  Attic 
procedure,  was  both  definite  in  its  penal  consequences  and  also 
judicially  delivered.  We  may,  however,  follow  the  course  of 
ideas  under  which  Solon  was  induced  to  write  this  sentence 
on  his  tables,  and  we  may  trace  the  influence  of  similar  ideas 
in  later  Attic  institutions.  It  is  obvious  that  his  denunciation 
is  confined  to  that  special  case  in  which  a  sedition  has  already 
broken  out :  we  must  suppose  that  Cylon  has  seized  the  Acrop- 
olis, or  that  Pisistratus,  Megacles,  and  Lycurgus  are  in  arms 
at  the  head  of  their  partisans.  Assuming  these  leaders  to  be 
wealthy  and  powerful  men,  which  would  in  all  probability  be 
the  fact,  the  constituted  authority — such  as  Solon  saw  before 
him  in  Attica,  even  after  his  own  organic  amendments — was 
not  strong  enough  to  maintain  the  peace ;  it  became,  in  fact, 
itself  one  of  the  contending  parties.  Under  such  given  cir- 
cumstances, the  sooner  every  citizen  publicly  declared  his  ad- 
herence to  some  of  them,  the  earlier  this  suspension  of  legal 
authority  was  likely  to  terminate.  Nothing  was  so  mischiev- 
ous as  the  indifference  of  the  mass,  or  their  disposition  to  let 
the  combatants  fight  out  the  matter  among  themselves,  and 
then  to  submit  to  the  victor.  Nothing  was  more  likely  to  en- 
courage aggression  on  the  part  of  an  ambitious  malcontent, 
than  the  conviction  that  if  he  could  once  overpower  the  small 
amount  of  physical  force  which  surrounded  the  archons,  and 
exhibit  -himself  in  armed  possession  of  the  Prytaneum  or  the 
Acropolis,  he  might  immediately  count  upon  passive  submis- 
sion on  the  part  of  all  the  freemen  without.  Under  the  state 
of  feeling  which  Solon  inculcates,  the  insurgent  leader  would 
have  to  calculate  that  every  man  who  was  not  actively  in  his 
favor  would  be  actively  against  him,  and  this  would  render  his 
enterprise  much  more  dangerous.  Indeed,  he  could  then  never 
hope  to  succeed,  except  on  the  double  supposition  of  extraor- 
dinary popularity  in  his  own  person  and  widespread  detesta 
tion  of  the  existing  government.  He  would  thus  be  placed 
under  the  influence  of  powerful  deterring  motives ;  so  that  am- 
bition would  be  less  likely  to  seduce  him  into  a  course  which 
threatened  nothing  but  ruin,  unless  under  such  encourage- 
ments from  the  preexisting  public  opinion  as  to  make  his  sue- 


240    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

cess  a  result  desirable  for  the  community.  Among  the  small 
political  societies  of  Greece — especially  in  the  age  of  Solon, 
when  the  number  of  despots  in  other  parts  of  Greece  seems  to 
have  been  at  its  maximum — every  government,  whatever  might 
be  its  form,  was  sufficiently  weak  to  make  its  overthrow  a  mat- 
ter of  comparative  facility  Unless  upon  the  supposition  of 
a  band  of  foreign  mercenaries — which  would  render  the  gov- 
ernment a  system  of  naked  force,  and  which  the  Athenian 
lawgiver  would  of  course  never  contemplate — there  was  no 
other  stay  for  it  except  a  positive  and  pronounced  feeling  of 
attachment  on  the  part  of  the  mass  of  citizens.  Indifference 
on  their  part  would  render  them  a  prey  to  every  daring  man 
of  wealth  who  chose  to  become  a  conspirator.  That  they 
should  be  ready  to  come  forward,  not  only  with  voice  but  with 
arms — and  that  they  should  be  known  beforehand  to  be  so — 
was  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  every  good  Grecian  gov- 
ernment. It  was  salutary  in  preventing  mere  personal  at- 
tempts at  revolution ;  and  pacific  in  its  tendency,  even  where 
the  revolution  had  actually  broken  out,  because  in  the  greater 
number  of  cases  the  proportion  of  partisans  would  probably  be 
very  unequal,  and  the  inferior  party  would  be  compelled  to  re- 
nounce their  hopes. 

It  will  be  observed  that,  in  this  enactment  of  Solon,  the 
existing  government  is  ranked  merely  as  one  of  the  contend- 
ing parties.  The  virtuous  citizen  is  enjoined,  not  to  come  for- 
ward in  its  support,  but  to  come  forward  at  all  events,  either 
for  it  or  against  it.  Positive  and  early  action  is  all  which  is 
prescribed  to  him  as  matter  of  duty.  In  the  age  of  Solon 
there  was  no  political  idea  or  system  yet  current  which  could 
be  assumed  as  an  unquestionable  datum — no  conspicuous 
standard  to  which  the  citizens  could  be  pledged  under  all  cir- 
cumstances to  attach  themselves.  The  option  lay  only  be- 
tween a  mitigated  oligarchy  in  possession,  and  a  despot  in  pos- 
sibility ;  a  contest  wherein  the  affections  of  the  people  could 
rarely  be  counted  upon  in  favor  of  the  established  government. 
But  this  neutrality  in  respect  to  the  constitution  was  at  an  end 
after  the  revolution  of  Clisthenes,  when  the  idea  of  the  sov- 
ereign people  and  the  democratical  institutions  became  both 
familiar  and  precious  to  every  individual  citizen.  We  shall 


SOLON'S    EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    241 

hereafter  find  the  Athenians  binding  themselves  by  the  most 
sincere  and  solemn  oaths  to  uphold  their  democracy  against  all 
attempts  to  subvert  it;  we  shall  discover  in  them  a  sentiment 
not  less  positive  and  uncompromising  in  its  direction,  than  en- 
ergetic in  its  inspirations.  But  while  we  notice  this  very  im- 
portant change  in  their  character,  we  shall  at  the  same  time 
perceive  that  the  wise  precautionary  recommendation  of  Solon, 
to  obviate  sedition  by  an  early  declaration  of  the  impartial  pub- 
lic between  two  contending  leaders,  was  not  lost  upon  them. 
Such,  in  point  of  fact,  was  the  purpose  of  that  salutary  and 
protective  institution  which  is  called  the  Ostracism.  When  two 
party  leaders,  in  the  early  stages  of  the  Athenian  democracy, 
each  powerful  in  adherents  and  influence,  had  become  passion- 
ately embarked  in  bitter  and  prolonged  opposition  to  each  other, 
such  opposition  was  likely  to  conduct  one  or  other  to  violent 
measures.  Over  and  above  the  hopes  of  party  triumph,  each 
might  well  fear  that,  if  he  himself  continued  within  the  bounds 
of  legality,  he  might  fall  a  victim  to  aggressive  proceedings  on 
the  part  of  his  antagonists.  To  ward  off  this  formidable  dan- 
ger, a  public  vote  was  called  for,  to  determine  which  of  the  two 
should  go  into  temporary  banishment,  retaining  his  property 
and  unvisited  by  any  disgrace.  A  number  of  citizens,  not  less 
than  six  thousand,  voting  secretly,  and  therefore  independently, 
were  required  to  take  part,  pronouncing  upon  one  or  other 
of  these  eminent  rivals  a  sentence  of  exile  for  ten  years.  The 
one  who  remained  became,  of  course,  more  powerful,  yet  less 
in  a  situation  to  be  driven  into  anti-constitutional  courses 
than  he  was  before.  Tragedy  and  comedy  were  now  begin- 
ning to  be  grafted  on  the  lyric  and  choric  song.  First,  one 
actor  was  provided  to  relieve  the  chorus;  next,  two  actors 
were  introduced  to  sustain  fictitious  characters  and  carry  on 
a  dialogue  in  such  manner  that  the  songs  of  the  chorus  and 
the  interlocution  of  the  actors  formed  a  continuous  piece. 
Solon,  after  having  heard  Thespis  acting  (as  all  the  early 
composers  did,  both  tragic  and  comic)  in  his  own  comedy, 
asked  him  afterward  if  he  was  not  ashamed  to  pronounce 
such  falsehoods  before  so  large  an  audience.  And  when 
Thespis  answered  that  there  was  no  harm  in  saying  and 
doing  such  things  merely  for  amusement,  Solon  indignantly 

H.  E.,  VOL.  I—I6. 


242    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

exclaimed,  striking  the  ground  with  his  stick,  "If  once  we 
come  to  praise  and  esteem  such  amusement  as  this,  we  shall 
quickly  find  the  effects  of  it  in  our  daily  transactions."  For  the 
authenticity  of  this  anecdote  it  would  be  rash  to  vouch,  but 
we  may  at  least  treat  it  as  the  protest  of  some  early  philoso- 
pher against  the  deceptions  of  the  drama :  and  it  is  interesting 
as  marking  the  incipient  struggles  of  that  literature  in  which 
Athens  afterward  attained  such  unrivaled  excellence. 

It  would  appear  that  all  the  laws  of  Solon  were  proclaimed, 
inscribed,  and  accepted  without  either  discussion  or  resist- 
ance. He  is  said  to  have  described  them,  not  as  the  best  laws 
which  he  could  himself  have  imagined,  but  as  the  best  which 
he  could  have  induced  the  people  to  accept.  He  gave  them 
validity  for  the  space  of  ten  years,  during  which  period  both 
the  senate  collectively  and  the  archons  individually  swore  to 
observe  them  with  fidelity;  under  penalty,  in  case  of  non- 
observance,  of  a  golden  statue  as  large  as  life  to  be  erected  at 
Delphi.  But  though  the  acceptance  of  the  laws  was  accom- 
plished without  difficulty,  it  was  not  found  so  easy  either  for 
the  people  to  understand  and  obey,  or  for  the  f  ramer  to  explain 
them.  Every  day  persons  came  to  Solon  either  with  praise,  or 
criticism,  or  suggestions  of  various  improvements,  or  ques- 
tions as  to  the  construction  of  particular  enactments ;  until  at 
last  he  became  tired  of  this  endless  process  of  reply  and  vindi- 
cation, which  was  seldom  successful  either  in  removing  obscur- 
ity or  in  satisfying  complainants.  Foreseeing  that  if  he  re- 
mained he  would  be  compelled  to  make  changes,  he  obtained 
leave  of  absence  from  his  countrymen  for  ten  years,  trusting 
that  before  the  expiration  of  that  period  they  would  have  be- 
come accustomed  to  his  laws.  He  quitted  his  native  city  in 
the  full  certainty  that  his  laws  would  remain  unrepealed  until 
his  return ;  for  (says  Herodotus)  "  the  Athenians  could  not  re- 
peal them,  since  they  were  bound  by  solemn  oaths  to  observe 
them  for  ten  years."  The  unqualified  manner  in  which  the 
historian  here  speaks  of  an  oath,  as  if  it  created  a  sort  of  physi- 
cal necessity  and  shut  out  all  possibility  of  a  contrary  result, 
deserves  notice  as  illustrating  Grecian  sentiment. 

On  departing  from  Athens,  Solon  first  visited  Egypt, 
where  he  communicated  largely  with  Psenophis  of  Heliopolis 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION    243 

and  Sonchis  of  Sais,  Egyptian  priests  who  had  much  to  tell  re- 
specting their  ancient  history,  and  from  whom  he  learned  mat- 
ters, real  or  pretended,  far  transcending  in  alleged  antiquity 
the  oldest  Grecian  genealogies— especially  the  history  of  the 
vast  submerged  island  of  Atlantis,  and  the  war  which  the  an- 
cestors of  the  Athenians  had  successfully  carried  on  against 
it,  nine  thousand  years  before.  Solon  is  said  to  have  com- 
menced an  epic  poem  upon  this  subject,  but  he  did  not  live  to 
finish  it,  and  nothing  of  it  now  remains.  From  Egypt  he 
went  to  Cyprus,  where  he  visited  the  small  town  of  JEpia.,  said 
to  have  been  originally  founded  by  Demophon,  son  of  Theseus, 
and  ruled  at  this  period  by  the  prince  Philocyprus — each  town 
in  Cyprus  having  its  own  petty  prince.  It  was  situated  near 
the  river  Clarius  in  a  position  precipitous  and  secure,  but  in- 
convenient and  ill-supplied.  Solon  persuaded  Philocyprus  to 
quit  the  old  site  and  establish  a  new  town  down  in  the  fertile 
plain  beneath.  He  himself  stayed  and  became  cecist  of  the 
new  establishment,  making  all  the  regulations  requisite  for  its 
safe  and  prosperous  march,  which  was  indeed  so  decisively 
manifested  that  many  new  settlers  flocked  into  the  new  plan- 
tation, called  by  Philocyprus  Soli,  in  honor  of  Solon.  To  our 
deep  regret,  we  are  not  permitted  to  know  what  these  regula- 
tions were ;  but  the  general  fact  is  attested  by  the  poems  of 
Solon  himself,  and  the  lines  in  which  he  bade  farewell  to  Philo- 
cyprus on  quitting  the  island  are  yet  before  us.  On  the  dispo- 
sitions of  this  prince  his  poem  bestowed  unqualified  commen- 
dation. 

Besides  his  visit  to  Egypt  and  Cyprus,  a  story  was  also 
current  of  his  having  conversed  with  the  Lydian  king  Croesus 
at  Sardis.  The  communication  said  to  have  taken  place  be- 
tween them  has  been  woven  by  Herodotus  into  a  sort  of  moral 
tale  which  forms  one  of  the  most  beautiful  episodes  in  -his 
whole  history.  Though  this  tale  has  been  told  and  retold  as 
if  it  were  genuine  history,  yet  as  it  now  stands  it  is  irrecon- 
cilable with  chronology— although  very  possibly  Solon  may  at 
some  time  or  other  have  visited  Sardis,  and  seen  Crcesus  as 
hereditary  prince. 

But  even  if  no  chronological  objections  existed,  the  moral 
purpose  of  the  tale  is  so  prominent,  and  pervades  it  so  system- 


244    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK   LEGISLATION 

atically  from  beginning  to  end,  that  these  internal  grounds 
are  of  themselves  sufficiently  strong  to  impeach  its  credibility 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  unless  such  doubts  happen  to  be  out- 
weighed— which  in  this  case  they  are  not — by  good  contem- 
porary testimony.  The  narrative  of  Solon  and  Croesus  can  be 
taken  for  nothing  else  but  an  illustrative  fiction,  borrowed  by 
Herodotus  from  some  philosopher,  and  clothed  in  his  own  pe- 
culiar beauty  of  expression,  which  on  this  occasion  is  more  de- 
cidedly poetical  than  is  habitual  with  him.  I  cannot  transcribe, 
and  I  hardly  dare  to  abridge  it.  The  vainglorious  Crcesus, 
at  the  summit  of  his  conquests  and  his  riches,  endeavors  to 
win  from  his  visitor  Solon  an  opinion  that  he  is  the  happiest 
of  mankind.  The  latter,  after  having  twice  preferred  to  him 
modest  and  meritorious  Grecian  citizens,  at  length  reminds 
him  that  his  vast  wealth  and  power  are  of  a  tenure  too  preca- 
rious to  serve  as  an  evidence  of  happiness ;  that  the  gods  are 
jealous  and  meddlesome,  and  often  make  the  show  of  happi- 
ness a  mere  prelude  to  extreme  disaster ;  and  that  no  man's 
life  can  be  called  happy  until  the  whole  of  it  has  been  played 
out,  so  that  it  may  be  seen  to  be  out  of  the  reach  of  reverses. 
Crcesus  treats  this  opinion  as  absurd,  but  "  a  great  judgment 
from  God  fell  upon  him,  after  Solon  was  departed — probably 
(observes  Herodotus)  because  he  fancied  himself  the  happiest 
of  all  men."  First  he  lost  his  favorite  son  Atys,  a  brave  and 
intelligent  youth  (his  only  other  son  being  dumb).  For  the 
Mysians  of  Olympus  being  ruined  by  a  destructive  and  formid- 
able wild  boar,  which  they  were  unable  to  subdue,  applied  for 
aid  to  Crcesus,  who  sent  to  the  spot  a  chosen  hunting  force, 
and  permitted — though  with  great  reluctance,  in  consequence 
of  an  alarming  dream — that  his  favorite  son  should  accompany 
them.  The  young  prince  was  unintentionally  slain  by  the 
Phrygian  exile  Adrastus,  whom  Croesus  had  sheltered  and  pro- 
tected. Hardly  had  the  latter  recovered  from  the  anguish  of  this 
misfortune,  when  the  rapid  growth  of  Cyrus  and  the  Persian 
power  induced  him  to  go  to  war  with  them,  against  the  advice 
of  his  wisest  counsellors.  After  a  struggle  of  about  three  years 
he  was  completely  defeated,  his  capital  Sardis  taken  by  storm, 
and  himself  made  prisoner.  Cyrus  ordered  a  large  pile  to  be 
prepared,  and  placed  upon  it  Crcesus  in  fetters,  together  with 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    245 

fourteen  young  Lydians,  in  the  intention  of  burning  them  alive 
either  as  a  religious  offering,  or  in  fulfilment  of  avow,  "or 
perhaps  (says  Herodotus)  to  see  whether  some  of  the  gods 
would  not  interfere  to  rescue  a  man  so  preemiently  pious  as 
the  king  of  Lydia."  In  this  sad  extremity,  Croesus  bethought 
him  of  the  warning  which  he  had  before  despised,  and  thrice 
pronounced,  with  a  deep  groan,  the  name  of  Solon.  Cyrus 
desired  the  interpreters  to  inquire  whom  he  was  invoking,  and 
learnt  in  reply  the  anecdote  of  the  Athenian  lawgiver,  together 
with  the  solemn  memento  which  he  had  offered  to  Croesus  dur- 
ing more  prosperous  days,  attesting  the  frail  tenure  of  all  hu- 
man greatness.  The  remark  sunk  deep  into  the  Persian  mon- 
arch as  a  token  of  what  might  happen  to  himself :  he  repented 
of  his  purpose,  and  directed  that  the  pile,  which  had  already 
been  kindled,  should  be  immediately  extinguished.  But  the 
orders  came  too  late.  In  spite  of  the  most  zealous  efforts  of 
the  bystanders,  the  flame  was  found  unquenchable,  and  Crce- 
sus  would  still  have  been  burned,  had  he  not  implored  with 
prayers  and  tears  the  succor  of  Apollo,  to  whose  Delphian  and 
Theban  temples  he  had  given  such  munificent  presents.  His 
prayers  were  heard,  the  fair  sky  was  immediately  overcast  and 
a  profuse  rain  descended,  sufficient  to  extinguish  the  flames. 
The  life  of  Croesus  was  thus  saved,  and  he  became  afterward 
the  confidential  friend  and  adviser  of  his  'conqueror. 

Such  is  the  brief  outline  of  a  narrative  which  Herodotus 
has  given  with  full  development  and  with  impressive  effect. 
It  would  have  served  as  a  show-lecture  to  the  youth  of  Athens 
not  less  admirably  than  the  well-known  fable  of  the  Choice  of 
Heracles,  which  the  philosopher  Prodicus,  a  junior  contempo- 
rary of  Herodotus,  delivered  with  so  much  popularity.  It  il- 
lustrates forcibly  the  religious  and  ethical  ideas  of  antiquity ; 
the  deep  sense  of  the  jealousy  of  the  gods,  who  would  not  en- 
dure pride  in  any  one  except  themselves ;  the  impossibility,  for 
any  man,  of  realizing  to  himself  more  than  a  very  moderate 
share  of  happiness ;  the  danger  from  a  reactionary  Nemesis,  if 
at  any  time  he  had  overpassed  such  limit ;  and  the  necessity  of 
calculations  taking  in  the  whole  of  life,  as  a  basis  for  rational 
comparison  of  different  individuals.  And  it  embodies,  as  a 
practical  consequence  from  these  feelings,  the  often-repeated 


246    SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

protest  of  moralists  against  vehement  impulses  and  unre- 
strained aspirations.  The  more  valuable  this  narrative  appears, 
in  its  illustrative  character,  the  less  can  we  presume  to  treat  it 
as  a  history. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no  information  re- 
specting events  in  Attica  immediately  after  the  Solonian 
laws  and  constitution,  which  were  promulgated  in  B.C.  594,  so 
as  to  understand  better  the  practical  effect  of  these  changes. 
What  we  next  hear  respecting  Solon  in  Attica  refers  to  a  pe- 
riod immediately  preceding  the  first  usurpation  of  Pisistratus 
in  B.C.  560,  and  after  the  return  of  Solon  from  his  long  ab- 
sence. We  are  here  again  introduced  to  the  same  oligarchical 
dissensions  as  are  reported  to  have  prevailed  before  the  Solo- 
nian legislation :  the  Pediis,  or  opulent  proprietors  of  the  plain 
round  Athens,  under  Lycurgus ;  the  Parali  of  the  south  of  At- 
tica, under  Megacles ;  and  the  Diacrii  or  mountaineers  of  the 
eastern  cantons,  the  poorest  of  the  three  classes,  under  Pisis- 
tratus, are  in  a  state  of  violent  intestine  dispute.  The  account 
of  Plutarch  represents  Solon  as  returning  to  Athens  during  the 
height  of  this  sedition.  He  was  treated  with  respect  by  all 
parties,  but  his  recommendations  were  no  longer  obeyed,  and 
he  was  disqualified  by  age  from  acting  with  effect  in  public. 
He  employed  his  best  efforts  to  mitigate  party  animosities, 
and  applied  himself  particularly  to  restrain  the  ambition  of 
Pisistratus,  whose  ulterior  projects  he  quickly  detected. 

The  future  greatness  of  Pisistratus  is  said  to  have  been  first 
portended  by  a  miracle  which  happened,  even  before  his  birth, 
to  his  father  Hippocrates  at  the  Olympic  games.  It  was  real- 
ized, partly  by  his  bravery  and  conduct,  which  had  been  dis- 
played in  the  capture  of  Nisaea  from  the  Megarians — partly 
by  his  popularity  of  speech  and  manners,  his  championship  of 
the  poor,  and  his  ostentatious  disavowal  of  all  selfish  preten- 
sions— partly  by  an  artful  mixture  of  stratagem  and  force.  So- 
lon, after  having  addressed  fruitless  remonstrances  to  Pisis- 
tratus himself,  publicly  denounced  his  designs  in  verses  ad- 
dressed to  the  people.  The  deception,  whereby  Pisistratus 
finally  accomplished  his  design,  is  memorable  in  Grecian  tradi- 
tion. He  appeared  one  day  in  the  agora  of  Athens  in  his  char- 
iot with  a  pair  of  mules :  he  had  intentionally  wounded  both  his 


SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION    247 

person  and  the  mules,  and  in  this  condition  he  threw  himself 
upon  the  compassion  and  defence  of  the  people,  pretending 
that  his  political  enemies  had  violently  attacked  him.  He 
implored  the  people  to  grant  him  a  guard,  and  at  the  moment 
when  their  sympathies  were  freshly  aroused  both  in  his  favor 
and  against  his  supposed  assassins,  Aristo  proposed  formally 
to  the  ecclesia  (the  pro-bouleutic  senate,  being  composed  of 
friends  of  Pisistratus,  had  previously  authorized  the  proposi- 
tion) that  a  company  of  fifty  club-men  should  be  assigned  as  a 
permanent  body-guard  for  the  defence  of  Pisistratus.  To 
this  motion  Solon  opposed  a  strenuous  resistance,  but  found 
himself  overborne,  and  even  treated  as  if  he  had  lost  his  senses. 
The  poor  were  earnest  in  favor  of  it,  while  the  rich  were  afraid 
to  express  their  dissent ;  and  he  could  only  comfort  himself 
after  the  fatal  vote  had  been  passed,  by  exclaiming  that  he  was 
wiser  than  the  former  and  more  determined  than  the  latter. 
Such  was  one  of  the  first  known  instances  in  which  this  mem- 
orable stratagem  was  played  off  against  the  liberty  of  a  Grecian 
community. 

The  unbounded  popular  favor  which  had  procured  the  pass- 
ing of  this  grant  was  still  further  manifested  by  the  absence 
of  all  precautions  to  prevent  the  limits  of  the  grant  from  being 
exceeded.  The  number  of  the  body-guard  was  not  long  con- 
fined to  fifty,  and  probably  their  clubs  were  soon  exchanged 
for  sharper  weapons.  Pisistratus  thus  found  himself  strong 
enough  to  throw  off  the  mask  and  seize  the  Acropolis.  His 
leading  opponents,  Megacles  and  the  Alcinseonids,  immediately 
fled  the  city,  and  it  was  left  to  the  venerable  age  and  undaunted 
patriotism  of  Solon  to  stand  forward  almost  alone  in  a  vain 
attempt  to  resist  the  usurpation.  He  publicly  presented  him- 
self in  the  market-place,  employing  encouragement,  remon- 
strance and  reproach,  in  order  to  rouse  the  spirit  of  the  people. 
To  prevent  this  despotism  from  coming  (he  told  them)  would 
have  been  easy ;  to  shake  it  off  now  was  more  difficult,  yet  at 
the  same  time  more  glorious.  But  he  spoke  in  vain,  for  all  who 
were  not  actually  favorable  to  Pisistratus  listened  only  to  their 
fears,  and  remained  passive ;  nor  did  any  one  join  Solon,  when, 
as  a  last  appeal,  he  put  on  his  armor  and  planted  himself  in 
military  posture  before  the  door  of  his  house.  "  I  have  done 


248   SOLON'S   EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION 

my  duty  (he  exclaimed  at  length);  I  have  sustained  to  the  best 
of  my  power  my  country  and  the  laws";  and  he  then  re- 
nounced all  further  hope  of  opposition — though  resisting  the 
instances  of  his  friends  that  he  should  flee,  and  returning  for 
answer,  when  they  asked  him  on  what  he  relied  for  protection, 
"  On  my  old  age."  Nor  did  he  even  think  it  necessary  to  re- 
press the  inspirations  of  his  Muse.  Some  verses  yet  remain, 
composed  seemingly  at  a  moment  when  the  strong  hand  of  the 
new  despot  had  begun  to  make  itself  sorely  felt,  in  which  he 
tells  his  countrymen — "  If  ye  have  endured  sorrow  from  your 
own  baseness  of  soul,  impute  not  the  fault  of  this  to  the  gods. 
Ye  have  yourselves  put  force  and  dominion  into  the  hands  of 
these  men,  and  have  thus  drawn  upon  yourselves  wretched 
slavery." 

It  is  gratifying  to  learn  that  Pisistratus,  whose  conduct 
throughout  his  despotism  was  comparatively  mild,  left  Solon 
untouched.  How  long  this  distinguished  man  survived  the 
practical  subversion  of  his  own  constitution,  we  cannot  certainly 
determine ;  but  according  to  the  most  probable  statement  he 
died  during  the  very  next  year,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty. 

We  have  only  to  regret  that  we  are  deprived  of  the  means 
of  following  more  in  detail  his  noble  and  exemplary  character. 
He  represents  the  best  tendencies  of  his  age,  combined  with 
much  that  is  personally  excellent :  the  improved  ethical  sensi- 
bility ;  the  thirst  for  enlarged  knowledge  and  observation,  not 
less  potent  in  old  age  than  in  youth ;  the  conception  of  regular- 
ized popular  institutions,  departing  sensibly  from  the  type  and 
spirit  of  the  governments  around  him,  and  calculated  to  found 
a  new  character  in  the  Athenian  people ;  a  genuine  and  reflect- 
ing sympathy  with  the  mass  of  the  poor,  anxious  not  merely  to 
rescue  them  from  the  oppressions  of  the  rich,  but  also  to 
create  in  them  habits  of  self-relying  industry ;  lastly,  during  his 
temporary  possession  of  a  power  altogether  arbitrary,  not 
merely  an  absence  of  all  selfish  ambition,  but  a  rare  discretion 
in  seizing  the  mean  between  conflicting  exigencies.  In  read- 
ing his  poems  we  must  always  recollect  that  what  now  appears 
commonplace  was  once  new,  so  that  to  his  comparatively  un- 
lettered age  the  social  pictures  which  he  draws  were  still  fresh, 
and  his  exhortations  calculated  to  live  in  the  memory.  The 


SOLON'S   EARLY   GREEK  LEGISLATION    249 

poems  composed  on  moral  subjects  generally  inculcate  a  spirit 
of  gentleness  toward  others  and  moderation  in  personal  objects. 
They  represent  the  gods  as  irresistible,  retributive,  favoring 
the  good  and  punishing  the  bad,  though  sometimes  very  tardily. 
But  his  compositions  on  special  and  present  occasions  are 
usually  conceived  in  a  more  vigorous  spirit ;  denouncing  the 
oppressions  of  the  rich  at  one  time,  and  the  timid  submission 
to  Pisistratus  at  another — and  expressing  in  emphatic  lan- 
guage his  own  proud  consciousness  of  having  stood  forward  as 
champion  of  the  mass  of  the  people.  Of  his  early  poems 
hardly  anything  is  preserved.  The  few  lines  remaining  seem 
to  manifest  a  jovial  temperament  which  we  may  well  conceive 
to  have  been  overlaid  by  such  political  difficulties  as  he  had  to 
encounter — difficulties  arising  successively  out  of  the  Mega- 
rian  war,  the  Cylonian  sacrilege,  the  public  despondency 
healed  by  Epimenides,  and  the  task  of  arbiter  between  a  rapa- 
cious oligarchy  and  a  suffering  people.  In  one  of  his  elegies 
addressed  to  Mimnermus,  he  marked  out  the  sixtieth  year  as 
the  longest  desirable  period  of  life,  in  preference  to  the  eighti- 
eth year,  which  that  poet  had  expressed  a  wish  to  attain.  But 
his  own  life,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  seems  to  have  reached 
the  longer  of  the  two  periods ;  and  not  the  least  honorable  part 
of  it  (the  resistance  to  Pisistratus)  occurs  immediately  before 
his  death. 

There  prevailed  a  story  that  his  ashes  were  collected  and 
scattered  around  the  island  of  Salamis,  which  Plutarch  treats  as 
absurd — though  he  tells  us  at  the  same  time  that  it  was  be- 
lieved both  by  Aristotle  and  by  many  other  considerable  men. 
It  is  at  least  as  ancient  as  the  poet  Cratinus,  who  alluded  ,to  it 
in  one  of  his  comedies,  and  I  do  not  feel  inclined  to  reject  it. 
The  inscription  on  the  statue  of  Solon  at  Athens  described  him 
as  a  Salaminian ;  he  had  been  the  great  means  of  acquiring  the 
island  for  his  country,  and  it  seems  highly  probable  that  among 
the  new  Athenian  citizens,  who  went  to  settle  there,  he  may 
have  received  a  lot  of  land  and  become  enrolled  among  the 
Salaminian  demots.  The  dispersion  of  his  ashes  connecting 
him  with  the  island  as  its  cecist,  may  be  construed,  if  not  as 
the  expression  of  a  public  vote,  at  least  as  a  piece  of  affection- 
ate vanity  on  the  part  of  his  surviving  friends. 


CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

B.C.  538 

GEORGE  GROTE 

On  the  destruction  of  Nineveh  three  great  Powers  still  stood  on  the 
stage  of  history,  being  bound  together  by  the  strong  ties  of  a  mutually 
supporting  alliance.  These  were  Media,  Lydia,  and  Babylon.  The 
capital  of  Lydia  was  Sardis.  According  to  Herodotus,  the  first  king  of 
Lydia  was  Manes.  In  the  semi-mythic  period  of  Lydian  history  rose 
the  great  dynasty  of  the  Heraclidae,  which  reigned  for  505  years,  num- 
bering twenty-two  kings — B.C.  1229  to  B.C.  745.  The  Lydians  are  said 
by  Herodotus  to  have  colonized  Tyrrhenia,  in  the  Italic  peninsula,  and 
to  have  extended  their  conquests  into  Syria,  where  they  founded  Ascalon 
in  the  territory  later  known  as  Palestine. 

In  the  reign  of  Gyges,  B.C.  724,  they  began  to  attack  the  Greek  cities 
of  Asia  Minor:  Miletus,  Smyrna,  and  Priene.  The  glory  of  the  Lydian 
Empire  culminated  in  the  reign  of  Croesus,  the  fifth  and  last  historic  king, 
B.C.  568.  The  well-known  story  of  Solon's  warning  to  Croesus  was  full 
of  ominous  import  with  regard  to  the  ultimate  downfall  of  the  Lydian 
Empire  :  "  For  thyself,  O  Croesus,"  said  the  Greek  sage  in  answer  to  the 
question,  Who  is  the  happiest  man  ?  "  I  see  that  thou  art  wonderfully 
rich,  and  art  the  lord  of  many  nations;  but  in  respect  to  that  whereon 
thou  questionest  me,  I  have  no  answer  to  give  until  I  hear  that  thou  hast 
closed  thy  life  happily." 

The  Median  Empire  occupied  a  territory  indefinitely  extending  over 
a  region  south  of  the  Caspian,  between  the  Kurdish  Mountains  and  the 
modern  Khorassan.  The  Median  monarchy,  according  to  Herodotus, 
commenced  B.C.  708.  The  Medes,  which  were  racially  akin  to  the  Per- 
sians, had  been  for  fifty  years  subject  to  the  Assyrian  monarchy  when 
they  revolted,  setting  up  an  independent  empire.  Putting  aside  the  dates 
given  by  the  Greek  historians,  we  shall  perhaps  be  correct  in  considering 
that  the  great  Median  kingdom  was  established  by  Cyaxares,  B.C.  633; 
and  that  in  B.C.  610  a  great  struggle  of  six  years  between  Media  and 
Lydia  was  amicably  ended,  under  the  terror  occasioned  by  an  eclipse,  by 
the  establishment  of  a  treaty  and  alliance  between  the  contending  pow- 
ers. With  the  death  of  Cyaxares,  B.C.  597,  the  glory  of  the  great  Me- 
dian Empire  passed  away,  for  under  his  son,  Astyages,  the  country  was 
conquered  by  Cyrus. 

The  rise  of  the  Babylonian  Empire  seems  to  have  originated  B.C.  2234, 
when  the  Cushite  inhabitants  of  southern  Babylonia  raised  a  native 

250 


CONQUESTS   OF   CYRUS  THE  GREAT      251 

dynasty  to  the  throne,  liberated  themselves  from  the  yoke  of  the  Zoroas- 
trian  Medes,  and  instituted  an  empire  with  several  large  capitals,  where 
they  built  mighty  temples  and  introduced  the  worship  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  in  contradistinction  to  the  elemental  worship  of  the  Magian 
Medes.  The  record  of  Babylonian  kings  is  full  of  obscurity,  even  in  the 
light  of  recent  archaeological  discoveries.  We  can  trace,  however,  a 
gradual  expansion  of  Babylonian  dominion,  even  to  the  borders  of  Egypt. 
Nabo  Polassar,  B.C.  625  to  B.C.  604,  was  a  great  warrior,  and  at  Car- 
chemish  defeated  even  the  almost  invincible  Egyptians,  B.C.  604. 

His  successor,  Nebuchadnezzar,  B.C.  604,  immediately  set  about  the 
fortification  of  his  capital.  A  space  of  more  than  130  square  miles  was 
enclosed  within  walls  80  feet  in  breadth  and  300  or  400  in  height,  if  we 
may  believe  the  record.  Meanwhile,  with  the  assistance  of  Cyaxares, 
King  of  Media,  he  captured  Tyre,  in  Phoenicia,  and  Jerusalem,  in  Syria; 
but  fifteen  years  after  Croesus  had  been  taken  prisoner  and  the  Persian 
Empire  extended  to  the  shores  of  the  ^Lgean,  the  Empire  of  Babylon 
fell  before  the  conquering  armies  of  Cyrus,  the  Persian. 

HTHE  Ionic  and  ALolic  Greeks  on  the  Asiatic  coast  had  been 
conquered  and  made  tributary  by  the  Lydian  king  Croesus : 
"Down  to  that  time  (says  Herodotus)  all  Greeks  had  been 
free."  Their  conqueror,  Crcesus,  who  ascended  the  throne  in 
560  B.C.,  appeared  to  be  at  the  summit  of  human  prosperity 
and  power  in  his  unassailable  capital,  and  with  his  countless 
treasures  at  Sardis.  His  dominions  comprised  nearly  the  whole 
of  Asia  Minor,  as  far  as  the  river  Halys  to  the  east ;  on  the 
other  side  of  that  river  began  the  Median  monarchy  under  his 
brother-in-law  Astyages,  extending  eastward  to  some  boundary 
which  we  cannot  define,  but  comprising,  in  a  south-eastern 
direction,  Persis  proper  or  Farsistan,  and  separated  from  the 
Kissians  and  Assyrians  on  the  east  by  the  line  of  Mount 
Zagros  (the  present  boundary-line  between  Persia  and  Turkey). 
Babylonia,  with  its  wondrous  city,  between  the  Uphrates  and 
the  Tigris,  was  occupied  by  the  Assyrians  or  Chaldaeans,  under 
their  king  Labynetus :  a  territory  populous  and  fertile,  partly 
by  nature,  partly  by  prodigies  of  labor,  to  a  degree  which  makes 
us  mistrust  even  an  honest  eye-witness  who  describes  it  after- 
ward in  its  decline— but  which  was  then  in  its  most  nourishing 
condition.  The  Chaldean  dominion  under  Labynetus  reached 
to  the  borders  of  Egypt,  including  as  dependent  territories 
both  Judaea  and  Phenicia.  In  Egypt  reigned  the  native  king 
Amasis,  powerful  and  affluent,  sustained  in  his  throne  by  a 


252      CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE   GREAT 

large  body  of  Grecian  mercenaries  and  himself  favorably  dis- 
posed to  Grecian  commerce  and  settlement.  Both  with  Laby- 
netus  and  with  Amasis,  Croesus  was  on  terms  of  alliance;  and 
as  Astyages  was  his  brother-in-law,  the  four  kings  might  well 
be  deemed  out  of  the  reach  of  calamity.  Yet  within  the  space 
of  thirty  years,  or  a  little  more,  the  whole  of  their  territories 
had  become  embodied  in  one  vast  empire,  under  the  son  of  an 
adventurer  as  yet  not  known  even  by  name. 

The  rise  and  fall  of  oriental  dynasties  have  been  in  all  times 
distinguished  by  the  same  general  features.  A  brave  and 
adventurous  prince,  at  the  head  of  a  population  at  once  poor, 
warlike,  and  greedy,  acquires  dominion ;  while  his  successors, 
abandoning  themselves  to  sensuality  and  sloth,  probably  also 
to  oppressive  and  irascible  dispositions,  become  in  process  of 
time  victims  to  those  same  qualities  in  a  stranger  which  had 
enabled  their  own  father  to  seize  the  throne.  Cyrus,  the  great 
founder  of  the  Persian  empire,  first  the  subject  and  afterward 
the  dethroner  of  the  Median  Astyages,  corresponds  to  their 
general  description,  as  far,  at  least,  as  we  can  pretend  to  know 
his  history.  For  in  truth  even  the  conquests  of  Cyrus,  after 
he  became  ruler  of  Media,  are  very  imperfectly  known,  while 
the  facts  which  preceded  his  rise  up  to  that  sovereignty  can- 
not be  said  to  be  known  at  all :  we  have  to  choose  between  dif- 
ferent accounts  at  variance  with  each  other,  and  of  which  the 
most  complete  and  detailed  is  stamped  with  all  the  character 
of  romance.  The  Cyropaedia  of  Xenophon  is  memorable  and 
interesting,  considered  with  reference  to  the  Greek  mind,  and 
as  a  philosophical  novel.  That  it  should  have  been  quoted  so 
largely  as  authority  on  matters  of  history,  is  only  one  proof 
among  many  how  easily  authors  have  been  satisfied  as  to 
the  essentials  of  historical  evidence.  The  narrative  given  by 
Herodotus  of  the  relations  between  Cyrus  and  Astyages, 
agreeing  with  Xenophon  in  little  more  than  the  fact  that  it 
makes  Cyrus  son  of  Cambyses  and  Mandane  and  grandson 
of  Astyages,  goes  even  beyond  the  story  of  Romulus  and 
Remus  in  respect  to  tragical  incident  and  contrast.  Astyages, 
alarmed  by  a  dream,  condemns  the  newborn  infant  of  his 
daughter  Mandane  to  be  exposed:  Harpagus,  to  whom  the 
order  is  given,  delivers  the  child  to  one  of  the  royal  herdsmen, 


CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT      253 

who  exposes  it  in  the  mountains,  where  it  is  miraculously 
suckled  by  a  bitch.  Thus  preserved,  and  afterward  brought 
up  as  the  herdsman's  child,  Cyrus  manifests  great  superiority, 
both  physical  and  mental ;  is  chosen  king  in  play  by  the  boys 
of  the  village,  and  in  this  capacity  severely  chastises  the  son 
of  one  of  the  courtiers ;  for  which  offense  he  is  carried  before 
Astyages,  who  recognizes  him  for  his  grandson,  but  is  assured 
by  the  Magi  that  the  dream  is  out  and  that  he  has  no  further 
danger  to  apprehend  from  the  boy — and  therefore  permits 
him  to  live.  With  Harpagus,  however,  Astyages  is  extremely 
incensed,  for  not  having  executed  his  orders:  he  causes  the 
son  of  Harpagus  to  be  slain,  and  served  up  to  be  eaten  by  his 
unconscious  father  at  a  regal  banquet.  The  father,  apprised 
afterward  of  the  fact,  dissembles  his  feelings,  but  meditates  a 
deadly  vengeance  against  Astyages  for  this  Thyestean  meal. 
He  persuades  Cyrus,  who  has  been  sent  back  to  his  father 
and  mother  in  Persia,  to  head  a  revolt  of  the  Persians  against 
the  Medes;  whilst  Astyages — to  fill  up  the  Grecian  concep- 
tion of  madness  as  a  precursor  to  ruin — sends  an  army  against 
the  revolters,  commanded  by  Harpagus  himself.  Of  course 
the  army  is  defeated— Astyages,  after  a  vain  resistance,  is 
dethroned — Cyrus  becomes  king  in  his  place — and  Harpagus 
repays  the  outrage  which  he  has  undergone  by  the  bitterest 
insults. 

Such  are  the  heads  of  a  beautiful  narrative  which  is  given 
at  some  length  in  Herodotus.  It  will  probably  appear  to  the 
reader  sufficiently  romantic;  though  the  historian  intimates 
that  he  had  heard  three  other  narratives  different  from  it,  and 
that  all  were  more  full  of  marvels,  as  well  as  in  wider  circula- 
tion, than  his  own,  which  he  had  borrowed  from  some  unusu- 
ally sober-minded  Persian  informants.  In  what  points  the 
other  three  stories  departed  from  it  we  do  not  hear. 

To  the  historian  of  Halicarnassus  we  have  to  oppose  Cte- 
sias — the  physician  of  the  neighboring  town  of  Cnidus — who 
contradicted  Herodotus,  not  without  strong  terms  of.  censure, 
on  many  points,  and  especially  upon  that  which  is  the  very  foun- 
dation of  the  early  narrative  respecting  Cyrus ;  for  he  affirmed 
that  Cyrus  was  no  way  related  to  Astyages.  However  indig- 
nant we  may  be  with  Ctesias  for  the  disparaging  epithets 


254      CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

which  he  presumed  to  apply  to  an  historian  whose  work  is  tc 
us  inestimable— we  must  nevertheless  admit  that,  as  surgeon 
in  actual  attendance  on  king  Artaxerxes  Mnemon,  and  healer 
of  the  wound  inflicted  on  that  prince  at  Cunaxa  by  his  brother 
Cyrus  the  younger,  he  had  better  opportunities  even  than 
Herodotus  of  conversing  with  sober-minded  Persians,  and 
that  the  discrepancies  between  the  two  statements  are  to  be 
taken  as  a  proof  of  the  prevalence  of  discordant,  yet  equally 
accredited,  stories.  Herodotus  himself  was  in  fact  compelled 
to  choose  one  out  of  four.  So  rare  and  late  a  plant  is  histor- 
ical authenticity. 

That  Cyrus  was  the  first  Persian  conqueror,  and  that  the 
space  which  he  overran  covered  no  less  than  fifty  degrees  of 
longitude,  from  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor  to  the  Oxus  and  the 
Indus,  are  facts  quite  indisputable ;  but  of  the  steps  by  which 
this  was  achieved,  we  know  very  little.  The  native  Persians, 
whom  he  conducted  to  an  empire  so  immense,  were  an  aggre- 
gate of  seven  agricultural,  and  four  nomadic  tribes — all  of  them 
rude,  hardy,  and  brave — dwelling  in  a  mountainous  region, 
clothed  in  skins,  ignorant  of  wine,  or  fruit,  or  any  of  the  com- 
monest luxuries  of  life,  and  despising  the  very  idea  of  pur- 
chase or  sale.  Their  tribes  were  very  unequal  in  point  of  dig- 
nity, probably  also  in  respect  to  numbers  and  powers,  among 
one  another.  First  in  estimation  among  them  stood  the  Pasar- 
gadae ;  and  the  first  phratry  or  clan  among  the  Pasargadae  were 
the  Achaemenidae,  to  whom  Cyrus  himself  belonged.  Whether 
his  relationship  to  the  Median  king  whom  he  dethroned  was  a 
matter  of  fact,  or  a  politic  fiction,  we  cannot  well  determine. 
But  Xenophon,  in  noticing  the  spacious  deserted  cities,  Larissa 
and  Mespila,  which  he  saw  in  his  march  with  the  ten  thou- 
sand Greeks  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Tigris,  gives  us  to 
understand  that  the  conquest  of  Media  by  the  Persians  was 
reported  to  him  as  having  been  an  obstinate  and  protracted 
struggle.  However  this  may  be,  the  preponderance  of  the 
Persians  was  at  last  complete :  though  the  Medes  always  con- 
tinued to  be  the  second  nation  in  the  empire,  after  the  Per- 
sians, properly  so  called ;  and  by  early  Greek  writers  the  great 
enemy  in  the  East  is  often  called  "  the  Mede  "  as  well  as  "  the 
Persian."  The  Median  Ekbatana  too  remained  as  one  of  the 


CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT      255 

capital  cities,  and  the  usual  summer  residence,  of  the  kings  of 
Persia;  Susa  on  the  Choaspes,  on  the  Kissian  plain  farther 
southward,  and  east  of  the  Tigris,  being  their  winter  abode. 

The  vast  space  of  country  comprised  between  the  Indus 
on  the  east,  the  Oxus  and  Caspian  Sea  to  the  north,  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  and  Indian  Ocean  to  the  south,  and  the  line  of  Mount 
Zagros  to  the  west,  appears  to  have  been  occupied  in  these 
times  by  a  great  variety  of  different  tribes  and  people,  yet  all 
or  most  of  them  belonging  to  the  religion  of  Zoroaster,  and 
speaking  dialects  of  the  Zend  language.  It  was  known 
amongst  its  inhabitants  by  the  common  name  of  Iran  or  Aria: 
it  is,  in  its  central  parts  at  least,  a  high,  cold  plateau,  totally 
destitute  of  wood,  and  scantily  supplied  with  water;  much  of 
it  indeed  is  a  salt  and  sandy  desert,  unsusceptible  of  culture. 
Parts  of  it  are  eminently  fertile,  where  water  can  be  procured 
and  irrigation  applied.  Scattered  masses  of  tolerably  dense 
population  thus  grew  up ;  but  continuity  of  cultivation  is  not 
practicable,  and  in  ancient  times,  as  at  present,  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  population  of  Iran  seems  to  have  consisted  of  wan- 
dering or  nomadic  tribes  with  their  tents  and  cattle.  The  rich 
pastures,  and  the  freshness  of  the  summer  climate,  in  the 
region  of  mountain  and  valley  near  Ekbatana,  are  extolled  by 
modern  travellers,  just  as  they  attracted  the  Great  King  in 
ancient  times  during  the  hot  months.  The  more  southerly 
province  called  Persis  proper  (Faristan)  consists  also  in  part 
of  mountain  land  interspersed  with  valley  and  plain,  abund- 
antly watered,  and  ample  in  pasture,  sloping  gradually  down 
to  low  grounds  on  the  sea-coast  which  are  hot  and  dry :  the  care 
bestowed  both  by  Medes  and  Persians  on  the  breeding  of  their 
horses  was  remarkable.  There  were  doubtless  material  dif- 
ferences between  different  parts  of  the  population  of  this  vast 
plateau  of  Iran.  Yet  it  seems  that,  along  with  their  common 
language  and  religion,  they  had  also  something  of  a  common 
character,  which  contrasted  with  the  Indian  population  east  of 
the  Indus,  the  Assyrians  west  of  Mount  Zagros,  and  the  Mas- 
sagetae  and  other  Nomads  of  the  Caspian  and  the  Sea  of  Aral 
—less  brutish,  restless  and  blood-thirsty  than  the  latter— more 
fierce,  contemptuous  and  extortionate,  and  less  capable  of  sus- 
tained industry,  than  the  two  former.  There  can  be  little 


356      CONQUESTS   OF   CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

doubt,  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  when  the 
wealth  and  cultivation  of  Assyria  were  at  their  maximum,  that 
Iran  also  was  far  better  peopled  than  ever  it  has  been  since 
European  observers  have  been  able  to  survey  it — especially  the 
north-eastern  portion,  Bactria  and  Sogdiana — so  that  the  inva- 
sions of  the  Nomads  from  Turkestan  and  Tartary,  which  have 
been  so  destructive  at  various  intervals  since  the  Mohamme- 
dan conquest,  were  before  that  period  successfully  kept  back. 

The  general  analogy  among  the  population  of  Iran  proba- 
bly enabled  the  Persian  conqueror  with  comparative  ease  to 
extend  his  empire  to  the  east,  after  the  conquest  of  Ekbatana, 
and  to  become  the  full  heir  of  the  Median  kings.  If  we  may 
believe  Ctesias,  even  the  distant  province  of  Bactria  had  been 
before  subject  to  those  kings.  At  first  it  resisted  Cyrus,  but 
finding  that  he  had  become  son-in-law  of  Astyages,  as  well  as 
master  of  his  person,  it  speedily  acknowledged  his  authority. 

According  to  the  representation  of  Herodotus,  the  war 
between  Cyrus  and  Croesus  of  Lydia  began  shortly  after  the 
capture  of  Astyages,  and  before  the  conquest  of  Bactria. 
Croesus  was  the  assailant,  wishing  to  avenge  his  brother-in- 
law,  to  arrest  the  growth  of  the  Persian  conqueror,  and  to 
increase  his  own  dominions.  His  more  prudent  counsellors  in 
vain  represented  to  him  that  he  had  little  to  gain,  and  much 
to  lose,  by  war  with  a  nation  alike  hardy  and  poor.  He  is  rep- 
resented as  just  at  that  time  recovering  from  the  affliction  aris- 
ing out  of  the  death  of  his  son. 

To  ask  advice  of  the  oracle,  before  he  took  any  final  decision, 
was  a  step  which  no  pious  king  would  omit.  But  in  the  pres- 
ent perilous  question,  Croesus  did  more — he  took  a  precaution 
so  extreme,  that  if  his  piety  had  not  been  placed  beyond  all 
doubt  by  his  extraordinary  munificence  to  the  temples,  he 
might  have  drawn  upon  himself  the  suspicion  of  a  guilty  scep- 
ticism. Before  he  would  send  to  ask  advice  respecting  the 
project  itself,  he  resolved  to  test  the  credit  of  some  of  the  chief 
surrounding  oracles— Delphi,  Dodona,  Branchidae  near  Mile- 
tus, Amphiaraus  at  Thebes,  Trophonius  at  Labadeia,  and 
Ammon  in  Libya.  His  envoys  started  from  Sardis  on  the 
same  day,  and  were  all  directed  on  the  hundredth  day  after- 
ward to  ask  at  the  respective  oracles  how  Croesus  was  at  that 


CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT      257 

precise  moment  employed.  This  was  a  severe  trial:  of  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  met  by  four  out  of  the  six  oracles  con- 
sulted we  have  no  information,  and  it  rather  appears  that  their 
answers  were  unsatisfactory.  But  Amphiaraus  maintained  his 
credit  undiminished,  while  Apollo  at  Delphi,  more  omniscient 
than  Apollo  at  Branchidae,  solved  the  question  with  such  unerr- 
ing precision,  as  to  afford  a  strong  additional  argument  against 
persons  who  might  be  disposed  to  scoff  at  divination.  No 
sooner  had  the  envoys  put  the  question  to  the  Delphian 
priestess,  on  the  day  named,  "  What  is  Croesus  now  doing  ? " 
than  she  exclaimed  in  the  accustomed  hexameter  verse,  "I 
know  the  number  of  grains  of  sand,  and  the  measures  of  the 
sea :  I  understand  the  dumb,  and  I  hear  the  man  who  speaks 
not.  The  smell  reaches  me  of  a  hard-skinned  tortoise  boiled 
in  a  copper  with  lamb's  flesh — copper  above  and  copper  below." 
Croesus  was  awe-struck  on  receiving  this  reply.  It  described 
with  the  utmost  detail  that  which  he  had  been  really  doing,  so 
that  he  accounted  the  Delphian  oracle  and  that  of  Amphiaraus 
the  only  trustworthy  oracles  on  earth — following  up  these  feel- 
ings with  a  holocaust  of  the  most  munificent  character,  in 
order  to  win  the  favor  of  the  Delphian  god.  Three  thousand 
cattle  were  offered  up,  and  upon  a  vast  sacrificial  pile  were 
placed  the  most  splendid  purple  robes  and  tunics,  together 
with  couches  and  censers  of  gold  and  silver ;  besides  which  he 
sent  to  Delphi  itself  the  richest  presents  in  gold  and  silver- 
ingots,  statues,  bowls,  jugs,  etc.,  the  size  and  weight  of  which 
we  read  with  astonishment ;  the  more  so  as  Herodotus  himself 
saw  them  a  century  afterwards  at  Delphi.  Nor  was  Croesus 
altogether  unmindful  of  Amphiaraus,  whose  answer  had  been 
creditable,  though  less  triumphant  than  that  of  the  Pythian 
priestess.  He  sent  to  Amphiaraus  a  spear  and  shield  of  pure 
gold,  which  were  afterward  seen  at  Thebes  by  Herodotus :  this 
large  donative  may  help  the  reader  to  conceive  the  immensity 
of  those  which  he  sent  to  Delphi. 

The  envoys  who  conveyed  these  gifts  were  instructed  to 
ask  at  the  same  time,  whether  Croesus  should  undertake  an 
expedition  against  the  Persians— and  if  so,  whether  he  should 
solicit  any  allies  to  assist  him.  In  regard  to  the  second  ques- 
tion, the  answer  both  of  Apollo  and  of  Amphiaraus  was  deci. 

E.,  VOL.  I.— 17 


258      CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

sive,  recommending  him  to  invite  the  alliance  of  the  most 
powerful  Greeks.  In  regard  to  the  first  and  most  momentous 
question,  their  answer  was  as  remarkable  for  circumspection 
as  it  had  been  before  for  detective  sagacity :  they  told  Croesus 
that  if  he  invaded  the  Persians,  he  would  subvert  a  mighty 
monarchy.  The  blindness  of  Croesus  interpreted  this  declara- 
tion into  an  unqualified  promise  of  success:  he  sent  further 
presents  to  the  oracle,  and  again  inquired  whether  his  king- 
dom would  be  durable.  "  When  a  mule  shall  become  king  oi 
the  Medes  (replied  the  priestess)  then  must  thou  run  away — 
be  not  ashamed." 

More  assured  than  ever  by  such  an  answer,  Croesus  sent 
to  Sparta,  under  the  kings  Anaxandrides  and  Aristo,  to  tender 
presents  and  solicit  their  alliance.  His  propositions  were 
favorably  entertained — the  more  so,  as  he  had  before  gratui- 
tously furnished  some  gold  to  the  Lacedaemonians  for  a  statue 
to  Apollo.  The  alliance  now  formed  was  altogether  general — 
no  express  effort  being  as  yet  demanded  from  them,  though  it 
soon  came  to  be.  But  the  incident  is  to  be  noted,  as  marking 
the  first  plunge  of  the  leading  Grecian  state  into  Asiatic  poli- 
tics ;  and  that  too  without  any  of  the  generous  Hellenic  sym- 
pathy which  afterward  induced  Athens  to  send  her  citizens 
across  the  JEgean.  At  this  time  Croesus  was  the  master  and 
tribute-exactor  of  the  Asiatic  Greeks,  whose  contingents  seem 
to  have  formed  part  of  his  army  for  the  expedition  now  con- 
templated-; an  army  consisting  principally,  not  of  native  Lydi- 
ans,  but  of  foreigners. 

The  river  Halys  formed  the  boundary  at  this  time  between 
the  Median  and  Lydian  empires :  and  Croesus,  marching  across 
that  river  into  the  territory  of  the  Syrians  or  Assyrians  of 
Cappadocia,  took  the  city  of  Pteria,  with  many  of  its  sur- 
rounding dependencies,  inflicting  damage  and  destruction  upon 
these  distant  subjects  of  Ekbatana.  Cyrus  lost  no  time  in 
bringing  an  army  to  their  defence  considerably  larger  than 
that  of  Croesus ;  trying  at  the  same  time,  though  unsuccess- 
fully, to  prevail  on  the  lonians  to  revolt  from  him.  A  bloody 
battle  took  place  between  the  two  armies,  but  with  indecisive 
result :  after  which  Croesus,  seeing  that  he  could  not  hope  to 
accomplish  more  with  his  forces  as  they  stood,  thought  it  wise 


CONQUESTS   OF   CYRUS  THE  GREAT      259 

to  return  to  his  capital,  and  collect  a  larger  army  for  the  next 
campaign.  Immediately  on  reaching  Sardis  he  despatched 
envoys  to  Labynetus  king  of  Babylon;  to  Amasis,  king  of 
Egypt ;  to  the  Lacedaemonians,  and  to  other  allies ;  calling 
upon  all  of  them  to  send  auxiliaries  to  Sardis  during  the 
course  of  the  fifth  month.  In  the  mean  time  he  dismissed  all 
the  foreign  troops  who  had  followed  him  into  Cappadocia. 

Had  these  allies  appeared,  the  war  might  perhaps  have 
been  prosecuted  with  success.  And  on  the  part  of  the  Lace- 
daemonians, at  least,  there  was  no  tardiness;  for  their  ships 
were  ready  and  their  troops  almost  on  board,  when  the  unex- 
pected news  reached  them  that  Crcesus  was  already  ruined. 
Cyrus  had  foresen  and  forestalled  the  defensive  plan  of  his 
enemy.  Pushing  on  with  his  army  to  Sardis  without  delay,  he 
obliged  the  Lydian  prince  to  give  battle  with  his  own  unas- 
sisted subjects.  The  open  and  spacious  plain  before  that  town 
was  highly  favorable  to  Lydian  cavalry,  which  at  that  time 
(Herodotus  tells  us)  was  superior  to  the  Persian.  But  Cyrus, 
employing  a  strategem  whereby  this  cavalry  was  rendered 
unavailable,  placed  in  front  of  his  line  the  baggage  camels, 
which  the  Lydian  horses  could  not  endure  either  to  smell  or 
to  behold.  The  horsemen  of  Crcesus  were  thus  obliged  to  dis- 
mount; nevertheless  they  fought  bravely  on  foot,  and  were 
not  driven  into  the  town  till  after  a  sanguinary  combat. 

Though  confined  within  the  walls  of  his  capital,  Crcesus 
had  still  good  reason  for  hoping  to  hold  out  until  the  arrival 
of  his  allies,  to  whom  he  sent  pressing  envoys  of  acceleration. 
For  Sardis  was  considered  impregnable — and  one  assault  had 
already  been  repulsed,  and  the  Persians  would  have  been 
reduced  to  the  slow  process  of  blockade.  But  on  the  four- 
teenth day  of  the  siege,  accident  did  for  the  besiegers  that 
which  they  could  not  have  accomplished  either  by  skill  or 
force.  Sardis  was  situated  on  an  outlying  peak  of  the  north- 
ern side  of  Tmolus;  it  was  well  fortified  everywhere  except 
toward  the  mountain ;  and  on  that  side  the  rock  was  so  pre- 
cipitous and  inaccessible,  that  fortifications  were  thought 
unnecessary,  nor  did  the  inhabitants  believe  assault  to  be  pos- 
sible in  that  quarter.  But  Hyrceades,  a  Persian  soldier,  having 
accidentally  seen  one  of  the  garrison  descending  this  precipi- 


2<5o      CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

tous  rock  to  pick  up  his  helmet  which  had  rolled  down,  watched 
his  opportunity,  tried  to  climb  up,  and  found  it  not  imprac- 
ticable ;  others  followed  his  example,  the  stronghold  was  thus 
seized  first,  and  the  whole  city  speedily  taken  by  storm. 

Cyrus  had  given  especial  orders  to  spare  the  life  of  Croesus, 
who  was  accordingly  made  prisoner.  But  preparations  were 
made  for  a  solemn  and  terrible  spectacle ;  the  captive  king  was 
destined  to  be  burned  in  chains,  together  with  fourteen  Lydian 
youths,  on  a  vast  pile  of  wood.  We  are  even  told  that  the 
pile  was  already  kindled  and  the  victim  beyond  the  reach  of 
human  aid,  when  Apollo  sent  a  miraculous  rain  to  preserve 
him.  As  to  the  general  fact  of  supernatural  interposition,  in 
one  way  or  another,  Herodotus  and  Ctesias  both  agree,  though 
they  described  differently  the  particular  miracles  wrought.  It 
is  certain  that  Crcesus,  after  some  time,  was  released  and  well 
treated  by  his  conqueror,  and  lived  to  become  the  confidential 
adviser  of  the  latter  as  well  as  of  his  son  Cambyses :  Ctesias 
also  acquaints  us  that  a  considerable  town  and  territory  near 
Ekbatana,  called  Barene,  was  assigned  to  him,  according  to  a 
practice  which  we  shall  find  not  infrequent  with  the  Persian 
kings. 

The  prudent  counsel  and  remarks  as  to  the  relations 
between  Persians  and  Lydians,  whereby  Crcesus  is  said  by 
Herodotus  to  have  first  earned  this  favorable  treatment,  are 
hardly  worth  repeating;  but  the  indignant  remonstrance  sent 
by  Crcesus  to  the  Delphian  god  is  too  characteristic  to  be 
passed  over.  He  obtained  permission  from  Cyrus  to  lay  upon 
the  holy  pavement  of  the  Delphian  temple  the  chains  with 
which  he  had  at  first  been  bound.  The  Lydian  envoys  were 
instructed,  after  exhibiting  to  the  god  these  humiliating  memo- 
rials, to  ask  whether  it  was  his  custom  to  deceive  his  benefac- 
tors, and  whether  he  was  not  ashamed  to  have  encouraged  the 
king  of  Lydia  in  an  enterprise  so  disastrous  ?  The  god,  conde- 
scending to  justify  himself  by  the  lips  of  the  priestess,  replied: 
"  Not  even  a  god  can  escape  his  destiny.  Crcesus  has  suffered 
for  the  sin  of  his  fifth  ancestor  (Gyges),  who,  conspiring  with 
a  woman,  slew  his  master  and  wrongfully  seized  the  sceptre. 
Apollo  employed  all  his  influence  with  the  Mcerae  (Fates)  to 
obtain  that  this  sin  might  be  expiated  by  the  children  of  Croe- 


CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT   261 

sus,  and  not  by  Croesus  himself;  but  the  Mcerae  would  grant 
nothing  more  than  a  postponement  of  the  judgment  for  three 
years.  Let  Croesus  know  that  Apollo  has  thus  procured  for  him 
a  reign  three  years  longer  than  his  original  destiny,  after  having 
tried  in  vain  to  rescue  him  altogether.  Moreover  he  sent  that 
rain  which  at  the  critical  moment  extinguished  the  burning 
pile.  Nor  has  Croesus  any  right  to  complain  of  the  prophecy 
by  which  he  was  encouraged  to  enter  on  the  war;  for  when 
the  god  told  him  that  he  would  subvert  a  great  empire,  it  was 
his  duty  to  have  again  inquired  which  empire  the  god  meant ; 
and  if  he  neither  understood  the  meaning,  nor  chose  to  ask  for 
information,  he  has  himself  to  blame  for  the  result.  Besides, 
Croesus  neglected  the  warning  given  to  him  about  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  Median  kingdom  by  a  mule :  Cyrus  was  that  mule 
— son  of  a  Median  mother  of  royal  breed,  by  a  Persian  father 
at  once  of  different  race  and  of  lower  position." 

This  triumphant  justification  extorted  even  from  Croesus 
himself  a  full  confession  that  the  sin  lay  with  him,  and  not  with 
the  god.  It  certainly  illustrates  in  a  remarkable  manner  the 
theological  ideas  of  the  time.  It  shows  us  how  much,  in  the 
mind  of  Herodotus,  the  facts  of  the  centuries  preceding  his 
own,  unrecorded  as  they  were  by  any  contemporary  author- 
ity, tended  to  cast  themselves  into  a  sort  of  religious  drama ; 
the  threads  of  the  historical  web  being  in  part  put  together,  in 
part  orignally  spun,  for  the  purpose  of  setting  forth  the  relig- 
ious sentiment  and  doctrine  woven  in  as  a  pattern.  The  Pythian 
priestess  predicts  to  Gyges  that  the  crime  which  he  had  com- 
mitted in  assassinating  his  master  would  be  expiated  by  his 
fifth  descendant,  though,  as  Herodotus  tells  us,  no  one  took 
any  notice  of  this  prophecy  until  it  was  at  last  fulfilled :  we 
see  thus  the  history  of  the  first  Mermnad  king  is  made  up 
after  the  catastrophe  of  the  last.  There  was  something  in  the 
main  facts  of  the  history  of  Croesus  profoundly  striking  to  the 
Greek  mind,  a  king  at  the  summit  of  wealth  and  power— pious 
in  the  extreme  and  munificent  toward  the  gods— the  first 
destroyer  of  Hellenic  liberty  in  Asia— then  precipitated,  at 
once  and  on  a  sudden,  into  the  abyss  of  ruin.  The  sin  of  the 
first  parent  helped  much  toward  the  solution  of  this  perplexing 
problem,  as  well  as  to  exalt  the  credit  of  the  oracle,  when  made 


26?   CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

to  assume  the  shape  of  an  unnoticed  prophecy.  In  the  affect- 
ing story  of  Solon  and  Croesus,  the  Lydian  king  is  punished 
with  an  acute  domestic  affliction  because  he  thought  himself 
the  happiest  of  mankind — the  gods  not  suffering  any  one  to 
be  arrogant  except  themselves ;  and  the  warning  of  Solon  is 
made  to  recur  to  Crcesus  after  he  has  become  the  prisoner  of 
Cyrus,  in  the  narrative  of  Herodotus.  To  the  same  vein  of 
thought  belongs  the  story,  just  recounted,  of  the  relations  of 
Croesus  with  the  Delphian  oracle.  An  account  is  provided, 
satisfactory  to  the  religious  feelings  of  the  Greeks,  how  and 
why  he  was  ruined — but  nothing  less  than  the  overruling  and 
omnipotent  Moerae  could  be  invoked  to  explain  so  stupendous 
a  result.  It  is  rarely  that  these  supreme  goddesses — or  hyper- 
goddesses,  since  the  gods  themselves  must  submit  to  them — 
are  brought  into  such  distinct  light  and  action.  Usually  they 
are  kept  in  the  dark,  or  are  left  to  be  understood  as  the  unseen 
stumbling  block  in  cases  of  extreme  incomprehensibility ;  and 
it  is  difficult  clearly  to  determine  (as  in  the  case  of  some  com- 
plicated political  constitutions)  where  the  Greeks  conceived 
sovereign  power  to  reside,  in  respect  to  the  government  of  the 
world.  But  here  the  sovereignly  of  the  Mcerae,  and  the  sub- 
ordinate agency  of  the  gods,  are  unequivocally  set  forth.  The 
gods  are  still  extremely  powerful,  because  the  Moerae  comply 
with  their  requests  up  to  a  certain  point,  not  thinking  it  proper 
to  be  wholly  inexorable;  but  their  compliance  is  carried  no 
farther  than  they  themselves  choose ;  nor  would  they,  even  in 
deference  to  Apollo,  alter  the  original  sentence  of  punishment 
for  the  sin  of  Gyges  in  the  person  of  his  fifth  descendant — 
a  sentence,  moreover,  which  Apollo  himself  had  formerly 
prophesied  shortly  after  the  sin  was  committed,  so  that,  if  the 
Moerae  had  listened  to  his  intercession  on  behalf  of  Crcesus, 
his  own  prophetic  credit  would  have  been  endangered.  Their 
unalterable  resolution  has  predetermined  the  ruin  of  Crcesus, 
and  the  grandeur  of  the  event  is  manifested  by  the  circum- 
stance that  even  Apollo  himself  cannot  prevail  upon  them  to 
alter  it,  or  to  grant  more  than  a  three  years'  respite.  The 
religious  element  must  here  be  viewed  as  giving  the  form, 
the  historical  element  as  giving  the  matter  only,  and  not  the 
whole  matter,  of  the  story.  These  two  elements  will  be  found 


CONQUESTS   OF   CYRUS  THE  GREAT      263 

conjoined  more  or  less  throughout  most  of  the  history  of 
Herodotus,  though  as  we  descend  to  later  times,  we  shall  find 
the  latter  element  in  constantly  increasing  proportion.  His 
conception  of  history  is  extremely  different  from  that  of  Thucy- 
dides,  who  lays  down  to  himself  the  true  scheme  and  purpose 
of  the  historian,  common  to  him  with  the  philosopher — to 
recount  and  interpret  the  past,  as  a  rational  aid  toward  pre- 
vision of  the  future. 

In  the  short  abstract  which  we  now  possess  of  the  lost 
work  of  Ctesias,  no  mention  appears  of  the  important  conquest 
of  Babylon.  His  narrative,  indeed,  as  far  as  the  abstract 
enables  us  to  follow  it,  diverges  materially  from  that  of  Hero- 
dotus, and  must  have  been  founded  on  data  altogether  different. 

"  I  shall  mention  (says  Herodotus)  these  conquests  which 
gave  Cyrus  most  trouble,  and  are  most  memorable :  after  he 
had  subdued  all  the  rest  of  the  continent,  he  attacked  the 
Assyrians."  Those  who  recollect  the  description  of  Babylon 
and  its  surrounding  territory,  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn  that 
the  capture  of  it  gave  the  Persian  aggressor  much  trouble. 
Their  only  surprise  will  be,  how  it  could  ever  have  been  taken 
at  all — or  indeed  how  a  hostile  army  could  have  even  reached 
it.  Herodotus  informs  us  that  the  Babylonian  queen  Nitocris 
(mother  of  that  very  Labynetus  who  was  king  when  Cyrus 
attacked  the  place)  apprehensive  of  invasion  from  the  Medes 
after  their  capture  of  Nineveh,  had  executed  many  laborious 
works  near  the  Euphrates  for  the  purpose  of  obstructing  their 
approach.  Moreover  there  existed  what  was  called  the  wall  of 
Media  (probably  built  by  her,  but  certainly  built  prior  to  the 
Persian  conquest),  one  hundred  feet  high  and  twenty  feet 
thick,  across  the  entire  space  of  seventy-five  miles  which  joined 
the  Tigris  with  one  of  the  canals  of  the  Euphrates :  while  the 
canals  themselves,  as  we  may  see  by  the  march  of  the  ten 
thousand  Greeks  after  the  battle  of  Cunaxa,  presented  means 
of  defence  altogether  insuperable  by  a  rude  army  such  as  that 
of  the  Persians.  On  the  east,  the  territory  of  Babylonia  was 
defended  by  the  Tigris,  which  cannot  be  forded  lower  than  the 
ancient  Nineveh  or  the  modern  Mosul.  In  addition  to  these 
ramparts,  natural  as  well  as  artificial,  to  protect  the  territory- 
populous,  cultivated,  productive,  and  offering  every  motive  to 


264      CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

its  inhabitants  to  resist  even  the  entrance  of  an  enemy — we  are 
told  that  the  Babylonians  were  so  thoroughly  prepared  for  the 
inroad  of  Cyrus  that  they  had  accumulated  within  their  walls  a 
store  of  provisions  for  many  years.  Strange  as  it  may  seem, 
we  must  suppose  that  the  king  of  Babylon,  after  all  the  cost 
and  labor  spent  in  providing  defences  for  the  territory,  volun- 
tarily neglected  to  avail  himself  of  them,  suffered  the  invader 
to  tread  down  the  fertile  Babylonia  without  resistance,  and 
merely  drew  out  the  citizens  to  oppose  him  when  he  arrived 
under  the  walls  of  the  city— if  the  statement  of  Herodotus  is 
correct.  And  we  may  illustrate  this  unaccountable  omission 
by  that  which  we  know  to  have  happened  in  the  march  of  the 
younger  Cyrus  to  Cunuxa  against  his  brother  Artaxerxes 
Mnemon.  The  latter  had  caused  to  be  dug,  expressly  in 
preparation  for  this  invasion,  a  broad  and  deep  ditch  (thirty 
feet  wide  and  eight  feet  deep)  from  the  wall  of  Media  to  the 
river  Euphrates,  a  distance  of  twelve  parasangs  or  forty-five 
English  miles,  leaving  only  a  passage  of  twenty  feet  broad  close 
alongside  of  the  river.  Yet  when  the  invading  army  arrived 
at  this  important  pass,  they  found  not  a  man  there  to  defend 
it,  and  all  of  them  marched  without  resistance  through  the 
narrow  inlet.  Cyrus  the  younger,  who  had  up  to  that  moment 
felt  assured  that  his  brother  would  fight,  now  supposed  that 
he  had  given  up  the  idea  of  defending  Babylon:  instead  of 
which,  two  days  afterward,  Artaxerxes  attacked  him  on  an  open 
plain  of  ground  where  there  was  no  advantage  of  position  on 
either  side ;  though  the  invaders  were  taken  rather  unawares 
in  consequence  of  their  extreme  confidence  arising  from  recent 
unopposed  entrance  within  the  artificial  ditch.  This  anecdote 
is  the  more  valuable  as  an  illustration,  because  all  its  circum- 
stances are  transmitted  to  us  by  a  discerning  eye-witness. 
And  both  the  two  incidents  here  brought  into  comparison  dem- 
onstrate the  recklessness,  changefulness,  and  incapacity  of  cal- 
culation belonging  to  the  Asiatic  mind  of  that  day — as  well  as 
the  great  command  of  hands  possessed  by  these  kings,  and  their 
prodigal  waste  of  human  labor.  Vast  walls  and  deep  ditches 
are  an  inestimable  aid  to  a  brave  and  well-commanded  garrison ; 
but  they  cannot  be  made  entirely  to  supply  the  want  of  bravery 
and  intelligence. 


CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT      265 

In  whatever  manner  the  difficulties  of  approaching  Babylon 
may  have  been  overcome,  the  fact  that  they  were  overcome  by 
Cyrus  is  certain.  On  first  setting  out  for  this  conquest,  he 
was  about  to  cross  the  river  Gyndes  (one  of  the  affluents  from 
the  east  which  joins  the  Tigris  near  the  modern  Bagdad,  and 
along  which  lay  the  high  road  crossing  the  pass  of  Mount 
Zagros  from  Babylon  to  Ekbatana)  when  one  of  the  sacred 
white  horses,  which  accompanied  him,  entered  the  river  in 
pure  wantonness  and  tried  to  cross  it  by  himself.  The  Gyndes 
resented  this  insult  and  the  horse  was  drowned :  upon  which 
Cyrus  swore  in  his  wrath  that  he  would  so  break  the  strength 
of  the  river  as  that  women  in  future  should  pass  it  without 
wetting  their  knees.  Accordingly  he  employed  his  entire  army, 
during  the  whole  summer  season,  in  digging  three  hundred  and 
sixty  artificial  channels  to  disseminate  the  unit  of  the  stream. 
Such,  according  to  Herodotus,  was  the  incident  which  post- 
poned for  one  year  the  fall  of  the  great  Babylon.  But  in  the 
next  spring  Cyrus  and  his  army  were  before  the  walls,  after 
having  defeated  and  driven  in  the  population  who  came  out  to 
fight.  These  walls  were  artificial  mountains  (three  hundred 
feet  high,  seventy-five  feet  thick,  and  forming  a  square  of  fifteen 
miles  to  each  side),  within  which  the  besieged  defied  attack, 
and  even  blockade,  having  previously  stored  up  several  years' 
provision.  Through  the  midst  of  the  town,  however,  flowed  the 
Euphrates.  That  river  which  had  been  so  laboriously  trained 
to  serve  for  protection,  trade  and  sustenance  to  the  Babylo- 
nians, was  now  made  the  avenue  of  their  ruin.  Having  left  a 
detachment  of  his  army  at  the  two  points  where  the  Euphrates 
enters  and  quits  the  city,  Cyrus  retired  with  the  remainder  to 
the  higher  part  of  its  course,  where  an  ancient  Babylonian 
queen  had  prepared  one  of  the  great  lateral  reservoirs  for  carry- 
ing off  in  case  of  need  the  superfluity  of  its  water.  Near  this 
point  Cyrus  caused  another  reservoir  and  another  canal  of  com- 
munication to  be  dug,  by  means  of  which  he  drew  off  the  water 
of  the  Euphrates  to  such  a  degree  it  became  not  above  the 
height  of  a  man's  thigh.  The  period  chosen  was  that  of  a 
great  Babylonian  festival,  when  the  whole  population  were 
engaged  in  amusement  and  revelry.  The  Persian  troops  left 
near  the  town,  watching  their  opportunity,  entered  from  both 


266   CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

sides  along  the  bed  of  the  river,  and  took  it  by  surprise  with 
scarcely  any  resistance.  At  no  other  time,  except  during  a 
festival,  could  they  have  done  this  (says  Herodotus)  had  the 
river  been  ever  so  low,  for  both  banks  throughout  the  whole 
length  of  the  town  were  provided  with  quays,  with  continuous 
walls,  and  with  gates  at  the  end  of  every  street  which  led  down 
to  the  river  at  right  angles  so  that  if  the  population  had  not 
been  disqualified  by  the  influences  of  the  moment,  they  would 
have  caught  the  assailants  in  the  bed  of  the  river  "as  in  a  trap," 
and  overwhelmed  them  from  the  walls  alongside.  Within  a 
square  of  fifteen  miles  to  each  side,  we  are  not  surprised  to  hear 
that  both  the  extremities  were  already  in  the  power  of  the 
besiegers  before  the  central  population  heard  of  it,  and  while 
they  were  yet  absorbed  in  unconscious  festivity. 

Such  is  the  account  given  by  Herodotus  of  the  circum- 
stances which  placed  Bablyon — the  greatest  city  of  Western 
Asia — in  the  power  of  the  Persians.  To  what  extent  the  infor- 
mation communicated  to  him  was  incorrect  or  exaggerated,  we 
cannot  now  decide.  The  way  in  which  the  city  was  treated 
would  lead  us  to  suppose  that  its  acquisition  cannot  have  cost 
the  conqueror  either  much  time  or  much  loss.  Cyrus  comes 
into  the  list  as  king  of  Babylon,  and  the  inhabitants  with  their 
whole  territory  become  tributary  to  the  Persians,  forming  the 
richest  satrapy  in  the  empire ;  but  we  do  not  hear  that  the  peo- 
ple were  otherwise  ill-used,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  vast  walls 
and  gates  were  left  untouched.  This  was  very  different  from 
the  way  in  which  the  Medes  had  treated  Nineveh,  which  seems 
to  have  been  ruined  and  for  a  long  time  absolutely  uninhabited, 
though  reoccupied  on  a  reduced  scale  under  the  Parthian 
empire ;  and  very  different  also  from  the  way  in  which  Babylon 
itself  was  treated  twenty  years  afterward  by  Darius,  when 
reconquered  after  a  revolt. 

The  importance  of  Babylon,  marking  as  it  does  one  of  the 
peculiar  forms  of  civilization  belonging  to  the  ancient  world 
in  a  state  of  full  development,  gives  an  interest  even  to  the  half- 
authenticated  stories  respecting  its  capture.  The  other  exploits 
ascribed  to  Cyrus — his  invasion  of  India,  across  the  desert  of 
Arachosia— and  his  attack  upon  the  Massagetae,  Nomads  ruled 
by  Queen  Tomyris  and  greatly  resembling  the  Scythians,  across 


CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT   267 

the  mysterious  river  which  Herodotus  calls  Araxes— are  too 
little  known  to  be  at  all  dwelt  upon.  In  the  latter  he  is  said  to 
have  perished,  his  army  being  defeated  in  a  bloody  battle.  He 
was  buried  at  Pasargadae,  in  his  native  province  of  Persis  proper, 
where  his  tomb  was  honored  and  watched  until  the  breaking 
up  of  the  empire,  while  his  memory  was  held  in  profound  ven- 
eration among  the  Persians.  Of  his  real  exploits  we  know  lit- 
tle or  nothing,  but  in  what  we  read  respecting  him  there  seems, 
though  amid  constant  fighting,  very  little  cruelty.  Xenophon 
has  selected  his  life  as  the  subject  of  a  moral  romance  which 
for  a  long  time  was  cited  as  authentic  history,  and  which  even 
now  serves  as  an  authority,  express  or  implied,  for  disputable 
and  even  incorrect  conclusions.  His  extraordinary  activity  and 
conquests  admit  of  no  doubt.  He  left  the  Persian  empire 
extending  from  Sogdiana  and  the  rivers  Jaxartes  and  Indus 
eastward,  to  the  Hellespont  and  the  Syrian  coast  westward,  and 
his  successors  made  no  permanent  addition  to  it  except  that  of 
Egypt.  Phenicia  and  Judaea  were  dependencies  of  Babylon, 
at  the  time  when  he  conquered  it,  with  their  princes  and 
grandees  in  Babylonian  captivity.  As  they  seem  to  have 
yielded  to  him,  and  became  his  tributaries  without  difficulty ; 
so  the  restoration  of  their  captives  was  conceded  to  them.  It 
was  from  Cyrus  that  the  habits  of  the  Persian  kings  took  com- 
mencement, to  dwell  at  Susa  in  the  winter,  and  Ekbatana  dur- 
ing the  summer ;  the  primitive  territory  of  Persis,  with  its  two 
towns  of  Persepolis  and  Pasargadae,  being  reserved  for  the 
burial-place  of  the  kings  and  the  religious  sanctuary  of  the 
empire.  How  or  when  the  conquest  of  Susiana  was  made,  we 
are  not  informed.  It  lay  eastward  of  the  Tigris,  between 
Babylonia  and  Persis  proper,  and  its  people,  the  Kissians,  as 
far  as  we  can  discern,  were  of  Assyrian  and  not  of  Aryan  race. 
The  river  Choaspes  near  Susa  was  supposed  to  furnish  the 
only  water  fit  for  the  palate  of  the  great  king,  and  it  is  said  to 
have  been  carried  about  with  him  wherever  he  went. 

While  the  conquests  of  Cyrus  contributed  to  assimilate  the 
distinct  types  of  civilization  in  Western  Asia— not  by  elevating 
the  worse,  but  by  degrading  the  better— upon  the  native  Per- 
sians themselves  they  operated  as  an  extraordinary  stimulus, 
provoking  alike  their  pride,  ambition,  cupidity,  and  warlike 


268      CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT 

propensities.  Not  only  did  the  territory  of  Persis  proper  pay 
no  tribute  to  Susa  or  Ekbatana — being  the  only  district  so 
exempted  between  the  Jaxartes  and  the  Mediterranean — but 
the  vast  tributes  received  from  the  remaining  empire  were  dis- 
tributed to  a  great  degree  among  its  inhabitants.  Empire  to 
them  meant — for  the  great  men,  lucrative  satrapies  or  pachalics, 
with  powers  altogether  unlimited,  pomp  inferior  only  to  that  of 
the  great  king,  and  standing  armies  which  they  employed  at 
their  own  discretion  sometimes  against  each  other — for  the 
common  soldiers,  drawn  from  their  fields  or  flocks,  constant 
plunder,  abundant  maintenance,  and  an  unrestrained  license, 
either  in  the  suite  of  one  of  the  satraps,  or  in  the  large  perma- 
nent troops  which  moved  from  Susa  to  Ekbatana  with  the 
Great  King.  And  if  the  entire  population  of  Persis  proper  did 
not  migrate  from  their  abodes  to  occupy  some  of  those  more 
inviting  spots  which  the  immensity  of  the  imperial  dominion 
furnished — a  dominion  extending  (to  use  the  language  of  Cyrus 
the  younger  before  the  battle  of  Cunaxa)  from  the  region  of 
insupportable  heat  to  that  of  insupportable  cold — this  was  only 
because  the  early  kings  discouraged  such  a  movement,  in  order 
that  the  nation  might  maintain  its  military  hardihood  and  be  in 
a  situation  to  furnish  undiminished  supplies  of  soldiers.  The 
self-esteem  and  arrogance  of  the  Persians  were  no  less  remark- 
able than  their  avidity  for  sensual  enjoyment.  They  were  fond 
of  wine  to  excess ;  their  wives  and  their  concubines  were  both 
numerous ;  and  they  adopted  eagerly  from  foreign  nations  new 
fashions  of  luxury  as  well  as  of  ornament.  Even  to  novelties 
in  religion,  they  were  not  strongly  averse.  For  though  dis- 
ciples of  Zoroaster,  with  Magi  as  their  priests  and  as  indispen- 
sable companions  of  their  sacrifices,  worshipping  sun,  moon, 
earth,  fire,  etc.,  and  recognizing  neither  image,  temple,  nor 
altar — yet  they  had  adopted  the  voluptuous  worship  of  the  god- 
dess Mylitta  from  the  Assyrians  and  Arabians.  A  numerous 
male  offspring  was  the  Persian's  boast.  His  warlike  charater 
and  consciousness  of  force  were  displayed  in  the  education  of 
these  youths,  who  were  taught,  from  five  years  old  to  twenty, 
only  three  things  —to  ride,  to  shoot  with  the  bow,  and  to  speak 
the  truth.  To  owe  money,  or  even  to  buy  and  sell,  was 
accounted  among  the  Persians  disgraceful — a  sentiment  which 


CONQUESTS   OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT      269 

they  defended  by  saying  that  both  the  one  and  the  other 
imposed  the  necessity  of  telling  falsehood.  To  exact  tribute 
from  subjects,  to  receive  pay  or  presents  from  the  king,  and  to 
give  away  without  forethought  whatever  was  not  immediately 
wanted,  was  their  mode  of  dealing  with  money.  Industrial 
pursuits  were  left  to  the  conquered,  who  were  fortunate  if  by 
paying  a  fixed  contribution  and  sending  a  military  contingent 
when  required,  they  could  purchase  undisturbed  immunity  for 
their  remaining  concerns.  They  could  not  thus  purchase  safety 
for  the  family  hearth,  since  we  find  instances  of  noble  Grecian 
maidens  torn  from  their  parents  for  the  harem  of  the  satrap. 

To  a  people  of  this  character,  whose  conceptions  of  political 
society  went  no  farther  than  personal  obedience  to  a  chief,  a 
conqueror  like  Cyrus  would  communicate  the  strongest  excite- 
ment and  enthusiasm  of  which  they  were  capable.  He  had 
found  them  slaves,  and  made  them  masters :  he  was  the  first 
and  greatest  of  national  benefactors,  as  well  as  the  moot  for- 
ward of  leaders  in  the  field :  they  followed  him  from  one  con- 
quest to  another,  during  the  thirty  years  of  his  reign,  their  love 
of  empire  growing  with  the  empire  itself.  And  this  impulse  of 
aggrandizement  continued  unabated  during  the  reigns  of  his 
three  next  successors — Cambyses,  Darius,  and  Xerxes— until 
it  was  at  length  violently  stifled  by  the  humiliating  defeats  of 
Plataea  and  Salamis ;  after  which  the  Persians  became  content 
with  defending  themselves  at  home  and  playing  a  secondary 
game. 


RISE  OF  CONFUCIUS,  THE  CHINESE  SAGE 

B.C.   550 

R.   K,   DOUGLAS 

Confucius  is  the  Latinized  name  of  Kung  Futusze,  or  "  Master  Kung," 
whose  work  in  China  did  much  to  educate  the  people  in  social  and  civic 
virtues.  He  began  as  a  political  reformer  at  a  time  when  the  empire 
was  cut  up  into  a  number  of  petty  and  discordant  principalities.  As  a 
practical  statesman  and  administrator,  he  urged  the  necessity  of  reform 
upon  the  princes  whom  one  after  another  he  served.  His  advice  was 
invariably  disregarded,  and  as  he  said  "  no  intelligent  ruler  arose  in  his 
time."  His  great  maxims  of  submission  to  the  emperor  or  supreme  head 
of  the  state  he  based  on  the  analogous  duty  of  filial  obedience  in  a  house- 
hold, and  his  very  spirit  of  piety  prevented  him  from  taking  independent 
measures  for  redressing  the  evils  and  oppressions  of  his  distracted 
country. 

His  moral  teachings  are  not  based  on  any  specific  religious  foun- 
dation, but  they  have  become  the  settled  code  of  Chinese  life,  of  which 
submissiveness  to  authority,  industry,  frugality,  and  fair  dealing  as  pre- 
scribed by  Confucian  ethics  are  general  characteristics.  The  political 
doctrines  of  this  great  reformer  were  eventually  adopted,  and  his  teach- 
ing and  example  brought  about  a  peaceful  and  gradual,  but  complete 
revolution,  in  the  Chinese  Empire,  whose  consolidation  into  a  simple 
kingdom  was  the  practical  result  of  this  sage's  influence. 

A  T  the  time  of  which  we  write  the  Chinese  were  still  clinging 
to  the  banks  of  the  Yellow  River,  along  which  they  had 
first  entered  the  country,  and  formed,  within  the  limits  of 
China  proper,  a  few  states  on  either  shore  lying  between  the 
33d  and  38th  parallels  of  latitude,  and  the  io6th  and  ngth  of 
longitude.  The  royal  state  of  Chow  occupied  part  of  the  mod- 
ern province  of  Honan.  To  the  north  of  this  was  the  powerful 
state  of  Tsin,  embracing  the  modern  province  of  Shanse  and 
part  of  Chili ;  to  the  south  was  the  barbarous  state  of  Ts'oo, 
which  stretched  as  far  as  the  Yang-tsze-kiang ;  to  the  east, 
reaching  to  the  coast,  were  a  number  of  smaller  states,  among 
which  those  of  Ts'e,  Loo,  Wei,  Sung,  and  Ching  were  the  chief 

270 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  271 

and  to  the  west  of  the  Yellow  River  was  the  state  of  Ts'in, 
which  was  destined  eventually  to  gain  the  mastery  over  the 
contending  principalities." 

On  the  establishment  of  the  Chow  dynasty,  King  Woo  had 
apportioned  these  fiefships  among  members  of  his  family,  his 
adherents,  and  the  descendants  of  some  of  the  ancient  virtuous 
kings.  Each  prince  was  empowered  to  administer  hir,  govern- 
ment as  he  pleased  so  long  as  he  followed  the  general  lines 
indicated  by  history ;  and  in  the  event  of  any  act  of  aggression 
on  the  part  of  one  state  against  another,  the  matter  was  to  be 
reported  to  the  king  of  the  sovereign  state,  who  was  bound  to 
punish  the  offender.  It  is  plain  that  in  such  a  system  the  ele- 
ments of  disorder  must  lie  near  the  surface ;  and  no  sooner  was 
the  authority  of  the  central  state  lessened  by  the  want  of  ability 
shown  by  the  successors  of  kings  Woo,  Ching,  and  K'ang,  than 
constant  strife  broke  out  between  the  several  chiefs.  The  hand 
of  every  man  was  against  his  neighbor,  and  the  smaller  states 
suffered  the  usual  fate,  under  like  circumstances,  of  being 
encroached  upon  and  absorbed,  notwithstanding  their  appeals 
for  help  to  their  common  sovereign.  The  House  of  Chow  hav- 
ing been  thus  found  wanting,  the  device  was  resorted  to  of 
appointing  one  of  the  most  powerful  princes  as  a  presiding 
chief,  who  should  exercise  royal  functions,  leaving  the  king 
only  the  title  and  paraphernalia  of  sovereignly.  In  fact,  the 
China  of  this  period  was  governed  and  administered  very 
much  as  Japan  was  up  till  about  twenty  years  ago.  For 
Mikado,  Shogun,  and  ruling  Daimios,  read  king,  presiding 
chief,  and  princes,  and  the  parallel  is  as  nearly  as  possible 
complete.  The  result  of  the  system,  however,  in  the  two  coun- 
tries was  different,  for  apart  from  the  support  received  by  the 
Mikado  from  the  belief  in  his  heavenly  origin,  the  insular  posi- 
tion of  Japan  prevented  the  possibility  of  the  advent  of  ele- 
ments of  disorder  from  without,  whereas  the  principalities  of 
China  were  surrounded  by  semi-barbarous  states,  the  chiefs  of 
which  were  engaged  in  constant  warfare  with  them. 

Confucius'  deep  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  House  of  Chow  for- 
bade his  following  in  the  Book  of  History  the  careers  of  the 
sovereigns  who  reigned  between  the  death  of  Muh  in  B.C.  946 
and  the  accession  of  P'ing  in  770.  One  after  another  these 


272  RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS 

kings  rose,  reigned,  and  died,  leaving  each  to  his  successor  an 
ever-increasing  heritage  of  woe.  During  the  reign  of  Seuen 
(827-781)  a  gleam  of  light  seems  to  have  shot  through  the  per- 
vading darkness.  Though  falling  far  short  of  the  excellencies 
of  the  founders  of  the  dynasty,  he  yet  strove  to  follow,  though 
at  a  long  interval,  the  examples  they  had  set  him ;  and  accord- 
ing to  the  Chinese  belief,  as  an  acknowledgment  from  Heaven 
of  his  efforts  in  the  direction  of  virtue,  it  was  given  him  to  sit 
upon  the  throne  for  nearly  half  a  century. 

His  successor,  Yew,  "the  Dark,"  appears  to  even  less 
advantage.  No  redeeming  acts  relieve  the  general  disorder  of 
his  reign,  and  at  the  instigation  of  a  favorite  concubine  he  is 
said  to  have  committed  acts  which  place  him  on  a  level  with 
Kee  and  Show.  Earthquakes,  storms,  and  astrological  por- 
tents appeared  as  in  the  dark  days  at  the  close  of  the  Hea  and 
Shang  dynasties.  His  capital  was  surrounded  by  the  barba- 
rian allies  of  the  Prince  of  Shin,  the  father  of  his  wife,  whom 
he  had  dismissed  at  the  request  of  his  favorite,  and  in  an 
attempt  to  escape  he  fell  a  victim  to  their  weapons. 

With  this  event  the  Western  Chow  dynasty  was  brought 
to  a  close. 

Here,  also,  the  Book  of  History  comes  to  an  end,  and  the 
Spring  and  Autumn  Annals  by  Confucius  takes  up  the  tale  of 
iniquity  and  disorder  which  overspread  the  land.  No  more 
dreadful  record  of  a  nation's  struggles  can  be  imagined  than 
that  contained  in  Confucius's  history.  The  country  was  torn 
by  discord  and  desolated  by  wars.  Husbandry  was  neglected, 
the  peace  of  households  was  destroyed,  and  plunder  and  rapine 
were  the  watchwords  of  the  time. 

Such  was  the  state  of  China  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  Con- 
fucius (B.C.  551).  Of  the  parents  of  the  Sage  we  know  but 
little,  except  that  his  father,  Shuh-leang  Heih,  was  a  military 
officer,  eminent  for  his  commanding  stature,  his  great  bravery, 
and  immense  strength,  and  that  his  mother's  name  was  Yen 
Ching-tsai.  The  marriage  of  this  couple  took  place  when  Heih 
was  seventy  years  old,  and  the  prospect,  therefore,  of  his  hav- 
ing an  heir  having  been  but  slight,  unusual  rejoicings  com- 
memorated the  birth  of  the  son,  who  was  destined  to  achieve 
such  everlasting  fame. 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  273 

Report  says  that  the  child  was  born  in  a  cave  on  Mount 
Ne,  whither  Ching-tsai  went  in  obedience  to  a  vision  to  be  con- 
fined. But  this  is  but  one  of  the  many  legends  with  which 
Chinese  historians  love  to  surround  the  birth  of  Confucius. 
With  the  same  desire  to  glorify  the  Sage,  and  in  perfect  good 
faith,  they  narrate  how  the  event  was  heralded  by  strange  por- 
tents and  miraculous  appearances,  how  genii  announced  to 
Ching-tsai  the  honor  that  was  in  store  for  her,  and  how  fairies 
attended  at  his  nativity. 

Of  the  early  years  of  Confucius  we  have  but  scanty  record. 
It  would  seem  that  from  his  childhood  he  showed  ritualistic 
tendencies,  and  we  are  told  that  as  a  boy  he  delighted  to  play 
at  the  arrangement  of  vessels  and  postures  of  ceremony.  As 
he  advanced  in  years  he  became  an  earnest  student  of  his- 
tory, and  looked  back  with  love  and  reverence  to  the  time 
when  the  great  and  good  Yaou  and  Shun  reigned  in 

"  A  golden  age,  fruitful  of  golden  deeds." 

At  the  age  of  fifteen  "  he  bent  his  mind  to  learning,"  and 
when  he  was  nineteen  years  old  he  married  a  lady  from  the 
state  of  Sung.  As  has  befallen  many  other  great  men,  Confu- 
cius' married  life  was  not  a  happy  one,  and  he  finally  divorced 
his  wife,  not,  however,  before  she  had  borne  him  a  son. 

Soon  after  his  marriage,  at  the  instigation  of  poverty,  Con- 
fucius accepted  the  office  of  keeper  of  the  stores  of  grain,  and 
in  the  following  year  he  was  promoted  to  be  guardian  of  the 
public  fields  and  lands.  It  was  while  holding  this  latter  office 
that  his  son  was  born,  and  so  well  known  and  highly  esteemed 
had  he  already  become  that  the  reigning  duke,  on  hearing  of 
the  event,  sent  him  a  present  of  a  carp,  from  which  circum- 
stance the  infant  derived  his  name,  Le  ("a  carp  ").  The  name 
of  this  son  seldom  occurs  in  the  life  of  his  illustrious  father, 
and  the  few  references  we  have  to  him  are  enough  to  show 
that  a  small  share  of  paternal  affection  fell  to  his  lot.  "  Have 
you  heard  any  lessons  from  your  father  different  from  what  we 
have  all  heard  ? "  asked  an  inquisitive  disciple  of  him.  "  No," 
replied  Le,  "  he  was  standing  alone  once  when  I  was  passing 
through  the  court  below  with  hasty  steps,  and  said  to  me, 
*  Have  you  read  the  Odes  ? '  On  my  replying, '  Not  yet,'  he 

E..  VOL.  I.— 18 


274  RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS 

added,  *  If  you  do  not  learn  the  Odes,  you  will  not  be  fit  to  con« 
verse  with.'  Another  day,  in  the  same  place  and  the  same 
way,  he  said  to  me,  '  Have  you  read  the  rules  of  Propriety  ? ' 
On  my  replying,  *  Not  yet,'  he  added,  '  If  you  do  not  learn  the 
rules  of  Propriety,  your  character  cannot  be  established.'  "  "  I 
asked  one  thing,"  said  the  enthusiastic  disciple,  "and  I  have 
learned  three  things.  I  have  learned  about  the  Odes ;  I  have 
learned  about  the  rules  of  Propriety ;  and  I  have  learned  that 
the  superior  man  maintains  a  distant  reserve  toward  his  son." 

At  the  age  of  twenty-two  we  find  Confucius  released  from 
the  toils  of  office,  and  devoting  his  time  to  the  more  congenial 
task  of  imparting  instruction  to  a  band  of  admiring  and  earnest 
students.  With  idle  or  stupid  scholars  he  would  have  nothing 
to  do.  "  I  do  not  open  the  truth,"  he  said,  "  to  one  who  is  not 
eager  after  knowledge,  nor  do  I  help  any  one  who  is  not  anx- 
ious to  explain  himself.  When  I  have  presented  one  corner 
of  a  subject,  and  the  listener  cannot  from  it  learn  the  other 
three,  I  do  not  repeat  my  lesson." 

When  twenty-eight  years  old  Confucius  studied  archery, 
and  in  the  following  years  took  lessons  in  music  from  the  cele- 
brated master,  Seang.  At  thirty  he  tells  us  "he  stood  firm," 
and  about  this  time  his  fame  mightily  increased,  many  noble 
youths  enrolled  themselves  among  his  disciples;  and  on  his 
expressing  a  desire  to  visit  the  imperial  court  of  Chow  to  confer 
on  the  subject  of  ancient  ceremonies  with  Laou  Tan,  the 
founder  of  the  Taouist  sect,  the  reigning  duke  placed  a  carriage 
and  horses  at  his  disposal  for  the  journey. 

The  extreme  veneration  which  Confucius  entertained  for 
the  founders  of  the  Chow  dynasty  made  the  visit  to  Lo,  the 
capital,  one  of  intense  interest  to  him.  With  eager  delight  he 
wandered  through  the  temple  and  audience-chambers,  the  place 
of  sacrifices  and  the  palace,  and  having  completed  his  inspec- 
tion of  the  position  and  shape  of  the  various  sacrificial  and 
ceremonial  vessels,  he  turned  to  his  disciples  and  said,  "  Now 
I  understand  the  wisdom  of  the  duke  of  Chow,  and  how  his 
house  attained  to  imperial  sway."  But  the  principal  object  ot 
his  visit  to  Chow  was  to  confer  with  Laou-tsze ;  and  of  the 
interview  between  these  two  very  dissimilar  men  we  have  vari- 
ous accounts.  The  Confucian  writers  as  a  rule  merely  mention 


RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS  275 

the  fact  of  their  having  met,  but  the  admirers  of  Laou-tsze 
affirm  that  Confucius  was  very  roughly  handled  by  his  more 
ascetic  contemporary,  who  looked  down  from  his  somewhat 
higher  standpoint  with  contempt  on  the  great  apostle  of 
antiquity.  It  was  only  natural  that  Laou-tsze,  who  preached 
that  stillness  and  self-emptiness  were  the  highest  attainable 
objects,  should  be  ready  to  assail  a  man  whose  whole  being 
was  wrapt  up  in  ceremonial  observances  and  conscious  well- 
doing. The  very  measured  tones  and  considered  movements 
of  Confucius,  coupled  with  a  certain  admixture  of  that  pride 
which  apes  humility,  must  have  been  very  irritating  to  the 
metaphysically-minded  treasurer.  And  it  was  eminently  char- 
acterisic  of  Confucius,  that  notwithstanding  the  great  provoca- 
tion given  him  on  this  occasion,  he  abstained  from  any  rejoin- 
der. We  nowhere  read  of  his  engaging  in  a  dispute.  When 
an  opponent  arose,  it  was  in  keeping  with  the  doctrine  of  Con- 
fucius to  retire  before  him.  "  A  sage,"  he  said, "  will  not  enter 
a  tottering  state  nor  dwell  in  a  disorganized  one.  When  right 
principles  of  government  prevail  he  shows  himself,  but  when 
they  are  prostrated  he  remains  concealed."  And  carrying  out 
the  same  principle  in  private  life,  he  invariably  refused  to 
wrangle. 

It  was  possibly  in  connection  with  this  incident  that  Con- 
fucius drew  the  attention  of  his  disciples  to  the  metal  statue  of 
a  man  with  a  triple  clasp  upon  his  mouth,  which  stood  in  the 
ancestral  temple  at  Lo.  On  the  back  of  the  statue  were 
inscribed  these  words :  "  The  ancients  were  guarded  in  their 
speech,  and  like  them  we  should  avoid  loquacity.  Many  words 
invite  many  defeats.  Avoid  also  engaging  in  many  busi- 
nesses, for  many  businesses  create  many  difficulties." 

"  Observe  this,  my  children,"  said  he,  pointing  to  the  in- 
scription. "  These  words  are  true,  and  commend  themselves 
to  our  reason." 

Having  gained  all  the  information  he  desired  in  Chow/ he 
returned  to  Loo,  where  pupils  flocked  to  him  until,  we  are  told, 
he  was  surrounded  by  an  admiring  company  of  three  thousand 
disciples  His  stay  in  Loo  was,  however,  of  short  duration, 
for  the  three  principal  clans  of  the  state,  those  of  Ke,  Shuh, 
and  Mang,  after  frequent  contests  between  themselves,  en- 


2;6  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

gaged  in  a  war  with  the  reigning  duke,  and  overthrew  his 
armies.  Upon  this  the  duke  took  refuge  in  the  state  of  T'se, 
whither  Confucius  followed  him.  As  he  passed  along  the  road 
he  saw  a  woman  weeping  at  a  tomb,  and  having  compassion 
on  her,  he  sent  his  disciple  Tsze-loo  to  ask  her  the  cause  of  her 
grief.  "  You  weep  as  if  you  had  experienced  sorrow  upon  sor- 
row," said  Tsze-loo.  " I  have,"  said  the  woman,  "my  father-in- 
law  was  killed  here  by  a  tiger,  and  my  husband  also ;  and  now 
my  son  has  met  the  same  fate."  "  Why,  then,  do  you  not 
remove  from  the  place  ? "  asked  Confucius.  "  Because  here 
there  is  no  oppressive  government,"  replied  the  woman.  On 
hearing  this  answer,  Confucius  remarked  to  his  disciples,  "  My 
children  remember  this,  oppressive  government  is  fiercer  than 
a  tiger." 

Possibly  Confucius  was  attracted  to  T'se  by  a  knowledge 
that  the  music  of  the  emperor  Shun  was  still  preserved  at  the 
court.  At  all  events,  we  are  told  that  having  heard  a  strain  of 
the  much-desired  music  on  his  way  to  the  capital,  he  hurried 
on,  and  was  so  ra\ished  with  the  airs  he  heard  that  for  three 
months  he  never  tasted  flesh.  "  I  did  not  think,"  said  he, 
"  that  music  could  reach  such  a  pitch  of  excellence." 

Hearing  of  the  arrival  of  the  Sage,  the  duke  of  T'se — King, 
by  name — sent  for  him,  and  after  some  conversation,  being 
minded  to  act  the  part  of  a  patron  to  so  distinguished  a  visitor, 
offered  to  make  him  a  present  of  the  city  of  Lin-k'ew  with  its 
revenues.  But  this  Confucius  declined,  remarking  to  his  dis- 
ciples, "  A  superior  man  will  not  receive  rewards  except  for 
services  done.  I  have  given  advice  to  the  duke  King,  but  he 
has  not  followed  it  as  yet,  and  now  he  would  endow  me  with 
this  place.  Very  far  is  he  from  understanding  me."  He  still, 
however,  discussed  politics  with  the  duke,  and  taught  him  that 
"  There  is  good  government  when  the  prince  is  prince,  and  the 
minister  is  minister ;  when  the  father  is  father,  and  the  son  is 
son."  "Good,"  said  the  duke;  "if,  indeed,  the  prince  be  not 
prince,  the  minister  not  minister,  and  the  son  not  son,  although 
I  have  my  revenue,  can  I  enjoy  it  ? " 

Though  Duke  King  was  by  no  means  a  satisfactory  pupil, 
many  of  his  instincts  were  good,  and  he  once  again  expressed 
a  desire  to  pension  Confucius,  that  he  might  keep  him  at  hand ; 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  277 

but  Gan  Ying,  the  Prime  Minister,  dissuaded  him  from  his 
purpose.  "These  scholars,"  said  the  minister,  "are  impracti- 
cable, and  cannot  be  imitated.  They  are  haughty  and  con 
ceited  of  their  own  views,  so  that  they  will  not  rest  satisfied  in 
inferior  positions.  They  set  a  high  value  on  all  funeral  cere- 
monies, give  way  to  their  grief,  and  will  waste  their  property 
on  great  funerals,  so  that  they  would  only  be  injurious  to  the 
common  manners.  This  Rung  Footsze  has  a  thousand  peculi- 
arities. It  would  take  ages  to  exhaust  all  he  knows  about  the 
ceremonies  of  going  up  and  going  down.  This  is  not  the  time 
to  examine  into  his  rules  of  propriety.  If  you  wish  to  employ 
him  to  change  the  customs  of  T'se,  you  will  not  be  making  the 
people  your  primary  consideration."  This  reasoning  had  full 
weight  with  the  duke,  who  the  next  time  he  was  urged  to  fol- 
low the  advice  of  Confucius,  cut  short  the  discussion  by  the 
remark,  "  I  am  too  old  to  adopt  his  doctrines." 

Under  these  circumstances  Confucius  once  more  returned 
to  Loo,  only  however  to  find  that  the  condition  of  the  state  was 
still  unchanged;  disorder  was  rife;  and  the  reins  of  govern- 
ment were  in  the  hands  of  the  head  of  the  strongest  party  for 
the  time  being.  This  was  no  time  for  Confucius  to  take  office, 
and  he  devoted  the  leisure  thus  forced  upon  him  to  the  com- 
pilation of  the  "  Book  of  Odes  "  and  the  "  Book  of  History." 

But  in  process  of  time  order  was  once  more  restored,  and 
he  then  felt  himself  free  to  accept  the  post  of  magistrate  of  the 
town  of  Chung-too,  which  was  offered  him  by  the  duke  King. 

He  now  had  an  opportunity  of  putting  his  principles  of  gov- 
ernment to  the  test,  and  the  result  partly  justified  his  expecta- 
tions. He  framed  rules  for  the  support  of  the  living,  and  for 
the  observation  of  rites  for  the  dead ;  he  arranged  appropriate 
food  for  the  old  and  the  young;  and  he  provided  for  the  proper 
separation  of  men  and  women.  And  the  results  were,  we  are 
told,  that,  as  in  the  time  of  King  Alfred,  a  thing  dropped  on 
the  road  was  not  picked  up;  there  was  no  fraudulent  carving 
of  vessels ;  coffins  were  made  of  the  ordained  thickness ;  graves 
were  unmarked  by  mounds  raised  over  them;  and  no  two 
prices  were  charged  in  the  markets.  The  duke,  surprised  at 
what  he  saw,  asked  the  sage  whether  his  rule  of  government 
could  be  applied  to  the  whole  state.  "  Certainly,"  replied  Con- 


2;8  RISE   OF    CONFUCIUS 

fucius,  "  and  not  only  to  the  state  of  Loo,  but  to  the  whole 
empire."  Forthwith,  therefore,  the  duke  made  him  Assistant- 
Superintendent  of  Works,  and  shortly  afterwards  appointed 
him  Minister  of  Crime.  Here,  again,  his  success  was  com- 
plete. From  the  day  of  his  appointment  crime  is  said  to  have 
disappeared,  and  the  penal  laws  remained  a  dead  letter. 

Courage  was  recognized  by  Confucius  as  being  one  of  the 
great  virtues,  and  about  this  period  we  have  related  two  in- 
stances in  which  he  showed  that  he  possessed  both  moral  and 
physical  courage  to  a  high  degree.  The  chief  of  the  Ke  fam- 
ily, being  virtual  possessor  of  the  state,  when  the  body  of  the 
exiled  Duke  Chaou  was  brought  from  T'se  for  interment, 
directed  that  it  should  be  buried  apart  from  the  graves  of  his 
ancestors.  On  Confucius  becoming  aware  of  his  decision,  he 
ordered  a  trench  to  be  dug  round  the  burying-ground  which 
should  enclose  the  new  tomb.  "  Thus  to  censure  a  prince  and 
signalize  his  faults  is  not  according  to  etiquette,"  said  he  to 
Ke.  "  I  have  caused  the  grave  to  be  included  in  the  cemetery, 
and  I  have  done  so  to  hide  your  disloyalty."  And  his  action 
was  allowed  to  pass  unchallenged. 

The  other  instance  referred  to  was  on  the  occasion,  a  few 
years  later,  of  an  interview  between  the  dukes  of  Loo  and  T'se, 
at  which  Confucius  was  present  as  master  of  ceremonies.  At 
his  instigation  an  altar  was  raised  at  the  place  of  meeting, 
which  was  mounted  by  three  steps,  and  on  this  the  dukes 
ascended,  and  having  pledged  one  another  proceeded  to  dis- 
cuss a  treaty  of  alliance.  But  treachery  was  intended  on  the 
part  of  the  duke  of  T'se,  and  at  a  given  signal  a  band  of  sav- 
ages advanced  with  beat  of  drum  to  carry  off  the  duke  of  Loo. 
Some  such  stratagem  had  been  considered  probable  by  Con- 
fucius, and  the  instant  the  danger  became  imminent  he  rushed 
to  the  altar  and  led  away  the  duke.  After  much  disorder,  in 
which  Confucius  took  a  firm  and  prominent  part,  a  treaty  was 
concluded,  and  even  some  land  on  the  south  of  the  river  Wan, 
which  had  been  taken  by  T'se,  was  by  the  exertions  of  the 
Sage  restored  to  Loo.  On  this  recovered  territory  the  people 
of  Loo,  in  memory  of  the  circumstance,  built  a  city  and  called 
it,  "The  City  of  Confession." 

But  to  return  to  Confucius  as  the   Minister  of   Crime. 


RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS  279 

Though  eminently  successful,  the  results  obtained  under  his 
system  were  not  quite  such  as  his  followers  have  represented 
them  to  have  been.  No  doubt  crime  diminished  under  his 
rule,  but  it  was  by  no  means  abolished.  In  fact,  his  biogra- 
phers mention  a  case  which  must  have  been  peculiarly  shock- 
ing to  him.  A  father  brought  an  accusation  against  his  son, 
in  the  expectation,  probably,  of  gaining  his  suit  with  ease  be- 
fore a  judge  who  laid  such  stress  on  the  virtues  of  filial  piety. 
But  to  his  surprise,  and  that  of  the  on-lookers,  Confucius  cast 
both  father  and  son  into  prison,  and  to  the  remonstrances  of 
the  head  of  the  Ke  clan  answered,  "Am  I  to  punish  for  a 
breach  of  filial  piety  one  who  has  never  been  taught  to  be 
filially  minded  ?  Is  not  he  who  neglects  to  teach  his  son  his 
duties,  equally  guilty  with  the  son  who  fails  in  them  ?  Crime  is 
not  inherent  in  human  nature,  and  therefore  the  father  in  the 
family,  and  the  government  in  the  state,  are  responsible  for  the 
crimes  committed  against  filial  piety  and  the  public  laws.  If  a 
king  is  careless  about  publishing  laws,  and  then  peremptorily 
punishes  in  accordance  with  the  strict  letter  of  them,  he  acts 
the  part  of  a  swindler;  if  he  collect  the  taxes  arbitrarily  with- 
out giving  warning,  he  is  guilty  of  oppression ;  and  if  he  puts 
the  people  to  death  without  having  instructed  them,  he  com- 
mits  a  cruelty." 

On  all  these  points  Confucius  frequently  insisted,  and 
strove  both  by  precept  and  example  to  impart  the  spirit  they 
reflected  on  all  around  him.  In  the  presence  of  his  prince  we 
are  told  that  his  manner,  though  self-possessed,  displayed 
respectful  uneasiness.  When  he  entered  the  palace,  or  when 
he  passed  the  vacant  throne,  his  countenance  changed,  his  legs 
bent  under  him,  and  he  spoke  as  though  he  had  scarcely  breath 
to  utter  a  word.  When  it  fell  to  his  lot  to  carry  the  royal 
sceptre,  he  stooped  his  body  as  though  he  were  not  able  to 
bear  its  weight.  If  the  prince  came  to  visit  him  when  he  was 
ill,  he  had  himself  placed  with  his  head  to  the  east,  and  lay 
dressed  in  his  court  clothes  with  his  girdle  across  them.  When 
the  prince  sent  him  a  present  of  cooked  meat,  he  carefully 
adjusted  his  mat  and  just  tasted  the  dishes;  if  the  meat  were 
uncooked,  he  offered  it  to  the  spirits  of  his  ancestors,  and  any 
animal  which  was  thus  sent  him  he  kept  alive. 


28o  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

At  the  village  festivals  he  never  preceded,  but  always  fol- 
lowed after  the  elders.  To  all  about  him  he  assumed  an 
appearance  of  simplicity  and  sincerity.  To  the  court  officials 
of  the  lower  grade  he  spoke  freely,  and  to  superior  officers  his 
manner  was  bland  but  precise.  Even  at  the  wild  gatherings 
which  accompanied  the  annual  ceremony  of  driving  away  pes- 
tilential influences,  he  paid  honor  to  the  original  meaning  of 
the  rite,  by  standing  in  court  robes  on  the  eastern  steps  of  his 
house,  and  received  the  riotous  exorcists  as  though  they  were 
favored  guests.  When  sent  for  by  the  prince  to  assist  in 
receiving  a  royal  visitor,  his  countenance  appeared  to  change. 
He  inclined  himself  to  the  officers  among  whom  he  stood,  and 
when  sent  to  meet  the  visitor  at  the  gate,  "  he  hastened  for- 
ward with  his  arms  spread  out  like  the  wings  of  a  bird."  Rec- 
ognizing in  the  wind  and  the  storm  the  voice  of  Heaven,  he 
changed  countenance  at  the  sound  of  a  sudden  clap  of  thunder 
or  a  violent  gust  of  wind. 

The  principles  which  underlie  all  these  details  relieve  them 
from  the  sense  of  affected  formality  which  they  would  other- 
wise suggest.  Like  the  sages  of  old,  Confucius  had  an  over- 
weening faith  in  the  effect  of  example.  "  What  do  you  say," 
asked  the  chief  of  the  Ke  clan  on  one  occasion,  "  to  killing  the 
unprincipled  for  the  good  of  the  principled  ? "  "  Sir,"  replied 
Confucius,  "  in  carrying  on  your  government  why  should  you 
employ  capital  punishment  at  all  ?  Let  your  evinced  desires  be 
for  what  is  good  and  the  people  will  be  good."  And  then 
quoting  the  words  of  King  Ching,  he  added,  "The  relation 
between  superiors  and  inferiors  is  like  that  between  the  wind 
and  the  grass.  The  grass  must  bend  when  the  wind  blows 
across  it."  Thus  in  every  act  of  his  life,  whether  at  home  or 
abroad,  whether  at  table  or  in  bed,  whether  at  study  or  in 
moments  of  relaxation,  he  did  all  with  the  avowed  object  of 
being  seen  of  men  and  of  influencing  them  by  his  conduct. 
And  to  a  certain  extent  he  gained  his  end.  He  succeeded  in 
demolishing  a  number  of  fortified  cities  which  had  formed  the 
hotbeds  of  sedition  and  tumult ;  and  thus  added  greatly  to  the 
power  of  the  reigning  duke.  He  inspired  the  men  with  a  spirit 
of  loyalty  and  good  faith,  and  taught  the  women  to  be  chaste 
and  docile.  On  the  report  of  the  tranquillity  prevailing  in  Loo, 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  281 

strangers  flocked  into  the  state,  and  thus  was  fulfilled  the  old 
criterion  of  good  government  which  was  afterward  repeated  by 
Confucius,  "the  people  were  happy,  and  strangers  were  at- 
tracted from  afar." 

But  even  Confucius  found  it  impossible  to  carry  all  his 
theories  into  practice,  and  his  experience  as  Minister  of  Crime 
taught  him  that  something  more  than  mere  example  was  nee- 
essary  to  lead  the  people  into  the  paths  of  virtue.  Before  he 
had  been  many  months  in  office,  he  signed  the  death-warrant 
of  a  well-known  citizen  named  Shaou  for  disturbing  the  public 
peace.  This  departure  from  the  principle  he  had  so  lately  laid 
down  astonished  his  followers,  and  Tsze-kung — the  Simon 
Peter  as  he  has  been  called  among  his  disciples — took  him  to 
task  for  executing  so  notable  a  man.  But  Confucius  held  to 
it  that  the  step  was  necessary.  "  There  are  five  great  evils  in 
the  world,"  said  he :  "a  man  with  a  rebellious  heart  who  becomes 
dangerous;  a  man  who  joins  to  vicious  deeds  a  fierce  temper; 
a  man  whose  words  are  knowingly  false ;  a  man  who  treasures 
in  his  memory  noxious  deeds  and  disseminates  them ;  a  man 
who  follows  evil  and  fertilizes  it.  All  these  evil  qualities  were 
combined  in  Shaou.  His  house  was  a  rendezvous  for  the  dis- 
affected ;  his  words  were  specious  enough  to  dazzle  any  one ; 
and  his  opposition  was  violent  enough  to  overthrow  any  inde- 
pendent man." 

But  notwithstanding  such  departures  from  the  lines  he  had 
laid  down  for  himself,  the  people  gloried  in  his  rule  and  sang 
at  their  work  songs  in  which  he  was  described  as  their  savior 
from  oppression  and  wrong. 

Confucius  was  an  enthusiast,  and  his  want  of  success  in  his 
attempt  completely  to  reform  the  age  in  which  he  lived  never 
seemed  to  suggest  a  doubt  to  his  mind  of  the  complete  wis- 
dom of  his  creed.  According  to  his  theory,  his  official  admin- 
istration should  have  effected  the  reform  not  only  of  his  sover- 
eign and  the  people,  but  of  those  of  the  neighboring  states. 
But  what  was  the  practical  result  ?  The  contentment  which 
reigned  among  the  people  of  Loo,  instead  of  instigating  the 
duke  of  T'se  to  institute  a  similar  system,  only  served  to  rouse 
his  jealousy.  "With  Confucius  at  the  head  of  its  govern- 
ment," said  he,  "  Loo  will  become  supreme  among  the  states, 


282  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

and  T'se,  which  is  nearest  to  it,  will  be  swallowed  up.  Let  us 
propitiate  it  by  a  surrender  of  territory."  But  a  more  provi- 
dent statesman  suggested  that  they  should  first  try  to  bring 
about  the  disgrace  of  the  Sage. 

With  this  object  he  sent  eighty  beautiful  girls,  well  skilled 
in  the  arts  of  music  and  dancing,  and  a  hundred  and  twenty 
of  the  finest  horses  which  could  be  procured,  as  a  present  to 
the  duke  King.  The  result  fully  realized  the  anticipation  of 
the  minister.  The  girls  were  taken  into  the  duke's  harem,  the 
horses  were  removed  to  the  ducal  stables,  and  Confucius  was 
left  to  meditate  on  the  folly  of  men  who  preferred  listening 
to  the  songs  of  the  maidens  of  T'se  to  the  wisdom  of  Yaou 
and  Shun.  Day  after  day  passed  and  the  duke  showed  no 
signs  of  returning  to  his  proper  mind.  The  affairs  of  state 
were  neglected,  and  for  three  days  the  duke  refused  to  receive 
his  ministers  in  audience. 

"  Master,"  said  Tsze-loo,  "  it  is  time  you  went."  But  Con- 
fucius, who  had  more  at  stake  than  his  disciple,  was  disinclined 
to  give  up  the  experiment  on  which  his  heart  was  set.  Be- 
sides, the  time  was  approaching  when  the  great  sacrifice  to 
Heaven  at  the  solstice,  about  which  he  had  had  so  many  conver- 
sations with  the  duke,  should  be  offered  up,  and  he  hoped  that 
the  recollection  of  his  weighty  words  would  recall  the  duke  to 
a  sense  of  his  duties.  But  his  gay  rivals  in  the  affections  of 
the  duke  still  held  their  sway,  and  the  recurrence  of  the  great 
festival  failed  to  awaken  his  conscience  even  for  the  moment. 
Reluctantly  therefore  Confucius  resigned  his  post  and  left  the 
capital. 

But  though  thus  disappointed  of  the  hopes  he  entertained 
of  the  duke  of  Loo,  Confucius  was  by  no  means  disposed  to 
resign  his  role  as  the  reformer  of  the  age.  "  If  any  one  among 
the  princes  would  employ  me,"  said  he,  "  I  would  effect  some- 
thing considerable  in  the  course  of  twelve  months,  and  in  three 
years  the  government  would  be  perfected."  But  the  tenden- 
cies of  the  times  were  unfavorable  to  the  Sage.  The  strug- 
gle for  supremacy  which  had  been  going  on  for  centuries  be- 
tween the  princes  of  the  various  states  was  then  at  its  height, 
and  though  there  might  be  a  question  whether  it  would  finally 
result  in  the  victory  of  Tsin,  or  of  Ts'oo,  or  of  Ts'in.  there 


RISE   OF    CONFUCIUS  283 

could  be  no  doubt  that  the  sceptre  had  already  passed  from 
the  hands  of  the  ruler  of  Chow.  To  men  therefore  who  were 
fighting  over  the  possessions  of  a  state  which  had  ceased  to 
live,  the  idea  of  employing  a  minister  whose  principal  object 
would  have  been  to  breathe  life  into  the  dead  bones  of  Chow, 
was  ridiculous.  This  soon  became  apparent  to  his  disciples, 
who  being  even  more  concerned  than  their  master  at  his  loss 
of  office,  and  not  taking  so  exalted  a  view  as  he  did  of  what  he 
considered  to  be  a  heaven-sent  mission,  were  inclined  to  urge 
him  to  make  concessions  in  harmony  with  the  times.  "  Your 
principles,"  said  Tsze-kung  to  him,  "are  excellent,  but  they 
are  unacceptable  in  the  empire,  would  it  not  be  well  therefore 
to  bate  them  a  little  ? "  "  A  good  husbandman,"  replied  the 
Sage,  "  can  sow,  but  he  cannot  secure  a  harvest.  An  artisan 
may  excel  in  handicraft,  but  he  cannot  provide  a  market  for 
his  goods.  And  in  the  same  way  a  superior  man  can  cultivate 
his  principles,  but  he  cannot  make  them  acceptable." 

But  Confucius  was  at  least  determined  that  no  efforts  on 
his  part  should  be  wanting  to  discover  the  opening  for  which 
he  longed,  and  on  leaving  Loo  he  betook  himself  to  the  state 
of  Wei.  On  arriving  at  the  capital,  the  reigning  duke  received 
him  with  distinction,  but  showed  no  desire  to  employ  him. 
Probably  expecting,  however,  to  gain  some  advantage  from  the 
counsels  of  the  Sage  in  the  art  of  governing,  he  determined  to 
attach  him  to  his  court  by  the  grant  of  an  annual  stipend  of 
sixty  thousand  measures  of  grain — that  having  been  the 
value  of  the  post  he  had  just  resigned  in  Loo.  Had  the  ex- 
periences of  his  public  life  come  up  to  the  sanguine  hopes  he 
had  entertained  at  its  beginning,  Confucius  would  probably 
have  declined  this  offer  as  he  did  that  of  the  Duke  of  T'se 
some  years  before,  but  poverty  unconsciously  impelled  him  to 
act  up  to  the  advice  of  Tsze-kung  and  to  bate  his  principles  of 
conduct  somewhat.  His  stay,  however,  in  Wei  was  of  short 
duration.  The  officials  at  the  court,  jealous  probably  oi  the 
influence  they  feared  he  might  gain  over  the  duke,  intrigued 
against  him,  and  Confucius  thought  it  best  to  bow  before  the 
coming  storm.  After  living  on  the  duke's  hospitality  for 
ten  months,  he  left  the  capital,  intending  to  visit  the  state  of 
Ch'in. 


284  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

It  chanced,  however,  that  the  way  thither  led  him  through 
the  town  of  Kwang,  which  had  suffered  much  from  the  filibus- 
tering expeditions  of  a  notorious  disturber  of  the  public  peace, 
named  Yang-Hoo.  To  this  man  of  ill-fame  Confucius  bore  a 
striking  resemblance,  so  much  so  that  the  townspeople,  fancy- 
ing that  they  now  had  their  old  enemy  in  their  power,  sur- 
rounded the  house  in  which  he  lodged  for  five  days,  intending 
to  attack  him.  The  situation  was  certainly  disquieting,  and 
the  disciples  were  much  alarmed.  But  Confucius's  belief  in 
the  heaven-sent  nature  of  his  mission  raised  him  above  fear. 
"After  the  death  of  King  Wan,"  said  he,  "was  not  the  cause 
of  truth  lodged  in  me  ?  If  Heaven  had  wished  to  let  this  sa- 
cred cause  perish,  I  should  not  have  been  put  into  such  a  rela- 
tion to  it.  Heaven  will  not  let  the  cause  of  truth  perish,  and 
what  therefore  can  the  people  of  Kwang  do  to  me  ? "  Saying 
which  he  tuned  his  lyre,  and  sang  probably  some  of  those 
songs  from  his  recently  compiled  Book  of  Odes  which  breathed 
the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  emperors. 

From  some  unexplained  cause,  but  more  probably  from  the 
people  of  Kwang  discovering  their  mistake  than  from  any 
effect  produced  by  Confucius'  ditties,  the  attacking  force  sud- 
denly withdrew,  leaving  the  Sage  free  to  go  wherever  he  listed. 
This  misadventure  was  sufficient  to  deter  him  from  wandering 
farther  a-field,  and,  after  a  short  stay  at  Poo,  he  returned  to 
Wei.  Again  the  duke  welcomed  him  to  the  capital,  though  it 
does  not  appear  that  he  renewed  his  stipend,  and  even  his  con- 
sort Nan-tsze  forgot  for  a  while  her  intrigues  and  debaucheries 
at  the  news  of  his  arrival.  With  a  complimentary  message 
she  begged  an  interview  with  the  Sage,  which  he  at  first  re- 
fused ;  but  on  her  urging  her  request,  he  was  fain  obliged  to 
yield  the  point.  On  being  introduced  into  her  presence,  he 
found  her  concealed  behind  a  screen,  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  prescribed  etiquette,  and  after  the  usual  formalities  they 
entered  freely  into  conversation. 

Tsze-loo  was  much  disturbed  at  this  want  of  discretion,  as 
he  considered  it,  on  the  part  of  Confucius,  and  the  vehemence 
of  his  master's  answer  showed  that  there  was  a  doubt  in  his 
own  mind  whether  he  had  not  overstepped  the  limits  of  sage- 
like  propriety.  "  Wherein  I  have  done  improperly,"  said  he, 


RISE  OF   CONFUCIUS  285 

"may  Heaven  reject  me!  may  Heaven  reject  me!"  This 
incident  did  not,  however,  prevent  him  from  maintaining 
friendly  relations  with  the  court,  and  it  was  not  until  the  duke 
by  a  public  act  sho\v^J  his  inability  to  understand  the  dignity 
of  the  role  which  Confucius  desired  to  assume,  that  he  lost  all 
hope  of  finding  employment  in  the  state  of  his  former  patron. 
On  this  occasion  the  duke  drove  through  the  streets  of  his 
capital  seated  in  a  carriage  with  Nan-tsze,  and  desired  Confu- 
cius to  follow  in  a  carriage  behind.  As  the  procession  passed 
through  the  market-place,  the  people  perceiving  more  clearly 
than  the  duke  the  incongruity  of  the  proceeding,  laughed  and 
jeered  at  the  idea  of  making  virtue  follow  in  the  wake  of  lust. 
This  completed  the  shame  which  Confucius  felt  at  being  in  so 
false  a  position. 

"I  have  not  seen  one,"  said  he,  "who  loves  virtue  as  he 
loves  beauty."  To  stay  any  longer  under  the  protection  of  a 
court  which  could  inflict  such  an  indignity  upon  him  was  more 
than  he  could  do,  and  he  therefore  once  again  struck  south- 
ward toward  Ch'in. 

After  his  retirement  from  office  it  is  probable  that  Confu- 
cius devoted  himself  afresh  to  imparting  to  his  followers  those 
doctrines  and  opinions  which  we  shall  consider  later  on.  Even 
on  the  road  to  Ch'in  we  are  told  that  he  practised  ceremonies 
with  his  disciples  beneath  the  shadow  of  a  tree  by  the  wayside 
in  Sung.  In  the  spirit  of  Laou-tsze,  Hwuy  T'uy,  an  officer  in 
the  neighborhood,  was  angered  at  his  reported  "  proud  air  and 
many  desires,  his  insinuating  habit  and  wild  will,"  and  at- 
tempted to  prevent  him  entering  the  state.  In  this  endeavor, 
however,  he  was  unsuccessful,  as  were  some  more  determined 
opponents,  who  two  years  later  attacked  him  at  Poo,  when  he 
was  on  his  way  to  Wei.  On  this  occasion  he  was  seized,  and 
though  it  is  said  that  his  followers  struggled  manfully  with  his 
captors,  their  efforts  did  not  save  him  from  having  to  give  an 
oath  that  he  would  not  continue  his  journey  to  Wei.  But  in 
spite  of  his  oath,  and  in  spite  of  the  public  slight  which  had 
previously  been  put  upon  him  by  the  duke  of  Wei,  an  irresist- 
ible attraction  drew  him  toward  that  state,  and  he  had  no 
sooner  escaped  from  the  clutches  of  his  captors  than  he  con- 
tinued his  journey. 


286  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

This  deliberate  forfeiture  of  his  word  in  one  who  had  com- 
manded them  to  "  hold  faithfulness  and  sincerity  as  first  princi- 
ples," surprised  his  disciples;  and  Tsze-kung,  who  was  gen- 
erally the  spokesman  on  such  occasions,  asked  him  whether  it 
was  right  to  violate  the  oath  he  had  taken.  But  Confucius, 
who  had  learned  expediency  in  adversity,  replied,  "  It  was  an 
oath  extracted  by  force.  The  spirits  do  not  hear  such." 

But  to  return  to  Confucius  flying  from  his  enemies  in  Sung. 
Finding  his  way  barred  by  the  action  of  Hwan  T'uy,  he  pro- 
ceeded westward  and  arrived  at  Ch'ing,  the  capital  of  the  state 
of  the  same  name.  Thither  it  would  appear  his  disciples  had 
preceded  him,  and  he  arrived  unattended  at  the  eastern  gate 
of  the  city.  But  his  appearance  was  so  striking  that  his  fol- 
lowers were  soon  made  aware  of  his  presence.  "  There  is  a 
man,"  said  a  townsman  to  Tsze-kung,  "  standing  at  the  east 
gate  with  a  forehead  like  Yaou,  a  neck  like  Kaou  Yaou,  his 
shoulders  on  a  level  with  those  of  Tsze-ch'an,  but  wanting  be- 
low the  waist  three  inches  of  the  height  of  Yu,  and  altogether 
having  the  forsaken  appearance  of  a  stray  dog."  Recognizing 
his  master  in  this  description,  Tsze-kung  hastened  to  meet  him, 
and  repeated  to  him  the  words  of  his  informant.  Confucius 
was  much  amused,  and  said :  "  The  personal  appearance  is  a 
small  matter ;  but  to  say  I  was  like  a  stray  dog — capital !  capi- 
tal!" 

The  ruling  powers  in  Ch'ing,  however,  showed  no  disposi- 
tion to  employ  even  a  man  possessing  such  marked  character- 
istics, and  before  long  he  removed  to  Ch'in,  where  he  remained 
a  year.  From  Ch'in  he  once  more  turned  his  face  toward  Wei, 
and  it  was  while  he  was  on  this  journey  that  he  was  detained 
at  Poo,  as  mentioned  above.  Between  Confucius  and  the  duke 
of  Wei  there  evidently  existed  a  personal  liking,  if  not  friend- 
ship. The  duke  was  always  glad  to  see  him  and  ready  to  con- 
verse with  him;  but  Confucms's  unbounded  admiration  for 
those  whose  bones,  as  Laou-tsze  said,  were  mouldered  to  dust, 
and  especially  for  the  founders  of  the  Chow  dynasty,  made  it 
impossible  for  the  duke  to  place  him  in  any  position  of  impor- 
tance. At  the  same  time  Confucius  seems  always  to  have 
hoped  that  he  would  be  able  to  gain  the  duke  over  to  his  views ; 
and  thus  it  came  about  that  the  Sage  was  constantly  attracted 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  287 

to  the  court  of  Duke  Ling,  and  as  often  compelled  to  exile  him- 
self from  it. 

On  this  particular  occasion,  as  at  all  other  times,  the  duke 
received  him  gladly,  but  their  conversations,  which  had  princi- 
pally turned  on  the  act  of  peaceful  government,  were  now  di- 
rected to  warlike  affairs.  The  duke  was  contemplating  an  at- 
tack on  Poo,  the  inhabitants  of  which,  under  the  leadership  of 
Hwan  T'uy,  who  had  arrested  Confucius,  had  rebelled  against 
him.  At  first  Confucius  was  quite  disposed  to  support  the 
duke  in  his  intended  hostilities;  but  a  representation  from  the 
duke  that  the  probable  support  of  other  states  would  make 
the  expedition  one  of  considerable  danger,  converted  Confu- 
cius to  the  opinion  evidently  entertained  by  the  duke,  that  it 
would  be  best  to  leave  Hwan  T'uy  in  possession  of  his  ill-gotten 
territory.  Confucius's  latest  advice  was  then  to  this  effect, 
and  the  duke  acted  upon  it. 

The  duke  was  now  becoming  an  old  man,  and  with  advanc- 
ing age  came  a  disposition  to  leave  the  task  of  governing  to 
others,  and  to  weary  of  Confucius'  high-flown  lectures.  He 
ceased  "  to  use  "  Confucius,  as  the  Chinese  historians  say,  and 
the  Sage  was  therefore  indignant,  and  ready  to  accept  any  offer 
which  might  come  from  any  quarter.  While  in  this  humor  he 
received  an  invitation  from  Pih  Hih,  an  officer  of  the  state  of 
Tsin  who  was  holding  the  town  of  Chung-mow  against  his 
chief,  to  visit  him,  and  he  was  inclined  to  go.  It  is  impossible 
to  study  this  portion  of  Confucius'  career  without  feeling  that 
a  great  change  had  come  over  his  conduct.  There  was  no 
longer  that  lofty  love  of  truth  and  of  virtue  which  had  distin- 
guished the  commencement  of  his  official  life.  Adversity,  in- 
stead of  stiffening  his  back,  had  made  him  pliable.  He  who 
had  formerly  refused  to  receive  money  he  had  not  earned,  was 
now  willing  to  take  pay  in  return  for  no  other  services  than  the 
presentation  of  courtier-like  advice  on  occasions  when  Duke 
Ling  desired  to  have  his  opinion  in  support  of  his  own ;  and  in 
defiance  of  his  oft-repeated  denunciation  of  rebels,  he  was  now 
ready  to  go  over  to  the  court  of  a  rebel  chief,  in  the  hope  pos- 
sibly of  being  able  through  his  means  "  to  establish,"  as  he  said 
on  another  occasion,  "  an  Eastern  Chow." 

Again  Tsze-loo  interfered,  and  expostulated  with  him  on 


288  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

his  inconsistency.  "  Master,"  said  he,  "  I  have  heard  you  say 
that  when  a  man  is  guilty  of  personal  wrong-doing,  a  superior 
man  will  not  associate  with  him.  If  you  accept  the  invitation 
of  this  Pih  Hih,  who  is  in  open  rebellion  against  his  chief,  what 
will  people  say  ? "  But  Confucius,  with  a  dexterity  which  had 
now  become  common  with  him,  replied :  "  It  is  true  I  have 
said  so.  But  is  it  not  also  true  that  if  a  thing  be  really  hard, 
it  may  be  ground  without  being  made  thin ;  and  if  it  be  really 
white,  it  may  be  steeped  in  a  black  fluid  without  becoming 
black  ?  Am  I  a  bitter  gourd  ?  Am  I  to  be  hung  up  out  of 
the  way  of  being  eaten  ? "  But  nevertheless  Tsze-loo's  remon- 
strances prevailed,  and  he  did  not  go. 

His  relations  with  the  duke  did  not  improve,  and  so  dissatis- 
fied was  he  with  his  patron  that  he  retired  from  the  court.  As 
at  this  time  Confucius  was  not  in  the  receipt  of  any  official 
income,  it  is  probable  that  he  again  provided  for  his  wants  by 
imparting  to  his  disciples  some  of  the  treasures  out  of  the  rich 
stores  of  learning  which  he  had  collected  by  means  of  diligent 
study  and  of  a  wide  experience.  Every  word  and  action  of  Con- 
fucius were  full  of  such  meaning  to  his  admiring  followers  that 
they  have  enabled  us  to  trace  him  into  the  retirement  of  pri- 
vate life.  In  his  dress,  we  are  told,  he  was  careful  to  wear  only 
the  "  correct "  colors,  viz.,  azure,  yellow,  carnation,  white  and 
black,  and  he  scrupulously  avoided  red  as  being  the  color  usu- 
ally affected  by  women  and  girls.  At  the  table  he  was  moder- 
ate in  his  appetite  but  particular  as  to  the  nature  of  his  food 
and  the  manner  in  which  it  was  set  before  him.  Nothing 
would  induce  him  to  touch  any  meat  that  was  "  high  "  or  rice 
that  was  musty,  nor  would  he  eat  anything  that  was  not  prop- 
erly cut  up  or  accompanied  with  the  proper  sauce.  He  al- 
lowed himself  only  a  certain  quantity  of  meat  and  rice,  and 
though  no  such  limit  was  fixed  to  the  amount  of  wine  with 
which  he  accompanied  his  frugal  fare,  we  are  assured  that  he 
never  allowed  himself  to  be  confused  by  it.  When  out  driving, 
he  never  turned  his  head  quite  round,  and  in  his  actions  as  well 
as  in  his  words  he  avoided  all  appearance  of  haste. 

Such  details  are  interesting  in  the  case  of  a  man  like  Con- 
fucius, who  has  exercised  so  powerful  an  influence  over  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the  world's  inhabitants,  and  whose  instructions, 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  289 

far  from  being  confined  to  the  courts  of  kings,  found  their 
loudest  utterances  in  intimate  communings  with  his  disciples, 
and  in  the  example  he  set  by  the  exact  performance  of  his 
daily  duties. 

The  only  accomplishment  which  Confucius  possessed  was 
a  love  of  music,  and  this  he  studied  less  as  an  accomplishment 
than  as  a  necessary  part  of  education.  "  It  is  by  the  odes  that 
the  mind  is  aroused,"  said  he.  "  It  is  by  the  rules  of  propriety 
that  the  character  is  established.  And  it  is  music  which  com- 
pletes the  edifice." 

But  having  tasted  the  sweets  of  official  life,  Confucius  was 
not  inclined  to  resign  all  hope  of  future  employment,  and  the 
duke  of  Wei  still  remaining  deaf  to  his  advice,  he  determined 
to  visit  the  state  of  Tsin,  in  the  hope  of  finding  in  Chaou  Keen- 
tsze,  one  of  the  three  chieftains  who  virtually  governed  that 
state,  a  more  hopeful  pupil.  With  this  intention  he  started 
westward,  but  had  got  no  farther  than  the  Yellow  River  when 
the  news  reached  him  of  the  execution  of  Tuh  Ming  and  Tuh 
Shun-hwa,  two  men  of  note  in  Tsin.  The  disorder  which  this 
indicated  put  a  stop  to  his  journey ;  for  had  not  he  himself  said 
"  that  a  superior  man  will  not  enter  a  tottering  state."  His 
disappointment  and  grief  were  great,  and  looking  at  the  yellow 
waters  as  they  flowed  at  his  feet,  he  sighed  and  muttered  to 
himself :  "  Oh  how  beautiful  were  they ;  this  river  is  not  more 
majestic  than  they  were !  and  I  was  not  there  to  avert  their 
fate ! " 

So  saying  he  returned  to  Wei,  only  to  find  the  duke  as  lit- 
tle inclined  to  listen  to  his  lectures,  as  he  was  deeply  engaged 
in  warlike  preparations.  When  Confucius  presented  himself 
at  court,  the  duke  refused  to  talk  on  any  other  subject  but  mili- 
tary tactics,  and  forgetting,  possibly  on  purpose,  that  Confu- 
cius was  essentially  a  man  of  peace,  pressed  him  for  informa- 
tion on  the  art  of  manoeuvring  an  army.  "  If  you  should  wish 
to  know  how  to  arrange  sacrificial  vessels,"  said  the  Sage,."  I 
will  answer  you,  but  about  warfare  I  know  nothing." 

Confucius  was  now  sixty  years  old,  and  the  condition  of  the 
states  composing  the  empire  was  even  more  unfavorable  for 
the  reception  of  his  doctrines  than  ever.  But  though  depressed 
by  fortune,  he  never  lost  that  steady  confidence  in  himself 

H.  E.,  VOL.  I.— 19 


290  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

and  his  mission,  which  was  a  leading  characteristic  of  his 
career,  and  when  he  found  the  duke  of  Wei  deaf  to  his  advice, 
he  removed  to  Ch'in,  in  the  hope  of  there  finding  a  ruler  who 
would  appreciate  his  wisdom. 

In  the  following  year  he  left  Ch'in  with  his  disciples  for 
Ts'ae,  a  small  dependency  of  the  state  of  Ts'oo.  In  these 
days  the  empire  was  subjected  to  constant  changes.  One  day 
a  new  state  carved  out  of  an  old  one  would  appear,  and  again 
it  would  disappear,  or  increase  in  size,  as  the  fortunes  of  war 
might  determine.  Thus  while  Confucius  was  in  Ts'ae,  a  part 
of  Ts'oo  declared  itself  independent,  under  the  name  of  Ye, 
and  the  ruler  usurped  the  title  of  duke.  In  earlier  days  such 
rebellion  would  have  called  forth  a  rebuke  from  Confucius ;  but 
it  was  otherwise  now,  and,  instead  of  denouncing  the  usurper 
as  a  rebel,  he  sought  him  as  a  patron.  The  duke  did  not  know 
how  to  receive  his  visitor,  and  asked  Tsze-loo  about  him.  But 
Tsze-loo,  possibly  because  he  considered  the  duke  to  be  no  bet- 
ter than  Pih  Hih,  returned  him  no  answer.  For  this  reticence 
Confucius  found  fault  with  him,  and  said,  "  Why  did  you  not 
say  to  him, '  He  is  simply  a  man  who,  in  his  eager  pursuit  of 
knowledge,  forgets  his  food ;  who,  in  the  joy  of  its  attainments, 
forgets  his  sorrows ;  and  who  does  not  perceive  that  old  age  is 
coming  on  ? ' " 

But  whatever  may  have  been  the  opinion  of  Tsze-loo,  Con- 
fucius was  quite  ready  to  be  on  friendly  terms  with  the  duke, 
who  seems  to  have  had  no  keener  relish  for  Confucius'  ethics 
than  the  other  rulers  to  whom  he  had  offered  his  services. 
We  are  only  told  of  one  conversation  which  took  place  be- 
tween the  duke  and  the  Sage,  and  on  that  occasion  the  duke 
questioned  him  on  the  subject  of  government.  Confucius'  re- 
ply was  eminently  characteristic  of  the  man.  Most  of  his  defi- 
nitions of  good  government  would  have  sounded  unpleasantly 
in  the  ears  of  a  man  who  had  just  thrown  off  his  master's  yoke 
and  headed  a  successful  rebellion,  so  he  cast  about  for  one 
which  might  offer  some  excuse  for  the  new  duke  by  attributing 
the  fact  of  his  disloyalty  to  the  bad  government  of  his  late 
ruler.  Quoting  the  words  of  an  earlier  sage,  he  replied,  "  Good 
government  obtains  when  those  who  are  near  are  made  happy, 
and  those  who  are  far  off  are  attracted." 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  291 

Returning  from  Ye  to  Ts'ae,  he  came  to  a  river  which, 
being  unoricgui,  left  him  n  resource  but  to  ford  it.  Seeing 
two  men  whom  he  recognized  ar  political  recluses  ploughing 
in  a  neighboring  field,  he  sent  the  ever-present  Tsze-loo  to  in- 
quire of  them  where  best  he  could  effect  a  crossing.  "  Who 
is  that  holding  the  reins  in  the  carriage  yonder  ? "  asked  the 
first  addressed,  in  answer  to  Tsze-loo's  inquiry.  "  Kung  Kew," 
replied  the  disciple,  "  Kung  Kcw,  of  Loo  ? "  asked  the  plough- 
man. "Yes,"  was  the  rep^.  fi  fft  knows  the  ford,"  was  the 
enigmatic  answer  of  the  man  as  he  turned  to  his  work ;  but 
whether  this  reply  was  suggested  by  the  general  belief  that 
Confucius  was  omniscient,  or  by  way  of  a  parable  to  signify 
that  Confucius  possessed  the  knowledge  by  which  the  river  of 
disorder,  which  was  barring  the  progress  of  liberty  and  free- 
dom, might  be  crossed,  we  are  only  left  to  conjecture.  Nor 
from  the  second  recluse  could  Tsze-loo  gain  any  practical  infor- 
mation. "  Who  are  you,  sir  ?  "  was  the  somewhat  peremptory 
question  which  his  inquiry  met  with.  Upon  his  answering  that 
he  was  a  disciple  of  Confucius,  the  man,  who  might  have  gath- 
ered his  estimate  of  Confucius  from  the  mouth  of  Laou-tsze, 
replied:  "Disorder,  like  a  swelling  flood,  spreads  over  the 
whole  empire,  and  who  is  he  who  will  change  it  for  you? 
Rather  than  follow  one  who  merely  withdraws  from  this  court 
to  that  court,  had  you  not  better  follow  those  who  (like  our- 
selves) withdraw  from  the  world  altogether  ?  "  These  words 
Tsze-loo,  as  was  his  wont,  repeated  to  Confucius,  who  thus  jus- 
tified his  career :  "  It  is  impossible  to  associate  with  birds  and 
beasts  as  if  they  were  the  same  as  ourselves.  If  I  associate 
not  with  people,  with  mankind,  with  whom  shall  I  associate  ? 
If  right  principles  prevailed  throughout  the  empire,  there  would 
be  no  necessity  for  me  to  change  its  state." 

Altogether  Confucius  remained  three  years  in  Ts'ae, — three 
years  of  strife  and  war,  during  which  his  counsels  were  com- 
pletely neglected.  Toward  their  close,  the  state  of  Woo  made 
an  attack  on  Ch'in,  which  found  support  from  the  powerful 
state  of  Ts'oo  on  the  south.  While  thus  helping  his  ally,  the 
Duke  of  Ts'oo  heard  that  Confucius  was  in  Ts'ae,  and  deter- 
mined to  invite  him  to  his  court.  With  this  object  he  sent 
messengers  bearing  presents  to  the  Sage,  and  charged  them 


292  RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS 

with  a  message  begging  him  to  come  to  Ts'oo.  Confucius 
readily  accepted  the  invitation,  and  prepared  to  start.  But  the 
news  of  the  transaction  alarmed  the  ministers  of  Ts'ae  and 
Ch'in.  "  Ts'oo,"  said  they,  "  is  already  a  powerful  state,  and 
Confucius  is  a  man  of  wisdom.  Experience  has  proved  that 
those  who  have  despised  him  have  invariably  suffered  for  it, 
and,  should  he  succeed  in  guiding  the  affairs  of  Ts'oo,  we 
should  certainly  be  ruined.  At  all  hazards  we  must  stop  his 
going."  When,  therefore,  Confucius  had  started  on  his  jour- 
ney, these  men  despatched  a  force  which  hemmed  him  in  in  a 
wild  bit  of  desert  country.  Here,  we  are  told,  they  kept  him 
a  prisoner  for  seven  days,  during  which  time  he  suffered  severe 
privations,  and,  as  was  always  the  case  in  moments  of  diffi- 
culty, the  disciples  loudly  bewailed  their  lot  and  that  of  their 
master. 

"  Has  the  superior  man,"  said  Tsze-loo,  "  indeed,  to  endure 
in  this  way  ? "  "The  superior  man  may  indeed  have  to  suffer 
want,"  replied  Confucius,  "  but  it  is  only  the  mean  man  who, 
when  he  is  in  straits,  gives  way  to  unbridled  license."  In  this 
emergency  he  had  recourse  to  a  solace  which  had  soothed  him 
on  many  occasions  when  fortune  frowned :  he  played  on  his 
lute  and  sang. 

At  length  he  succeeded  in  sending  word  to  the  duke  of 
Ts'oo  of  the  position  he  was  in.  At  once  the  duke  sent  am- 
bassadors to  liberate  him,  and  he  himself  went  out  of  his  capi- 
tal to  meet  him.  But  though  he  welcomed  him  cordially,  and 
seems  to  have  availed  himself  of  his  advice  on  occasions,  he  did 
not  appoint  him  to  any  office,  and  the  intention  he  at  one  time 
entertained  of  granting  him  a  slice  of  territory  was  thwarted 
by  his  ministers,  from  motives  of  expediency.  "  Has  your  maj- 
esty," said  this  officer,  "  any  servant  who  could  discharge  the 
duties  of  ambassador  like  Tsze-kung  ?  or  any  so  well  qualified 
for  a  premier  as  Yen  Hwuy  ?  or  any  one  to  compare  as  a  gen- 
eral with  Tsze-loo  ?  Did  not  kings  Wan  and  Woo,  from  their 
small  states  of  Fung  and  Kaou,  rise  to  the  sovereignty  of  the 
empire?  And  if  Kung  Kew  once  acquired  territory,  with 
such  disciples  to  be  his  ministers,  it  will  not  be  to  the  prosper- 
ity of  Ts'oo." 

This  remonstrance  not  only  had  the  immediate  effect  which 


RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS  293 

was  intended,  but  appears  to  have  influenced  the  manner  of 
the  duke^  toward  the  Sage,  for  in  the  interval  between  this  and 
the  duke's  death,  in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  we  hear  of 
no  counsel  being  either  asked  or  given.  In  the  successor  to 
the  throne  Confucius  evidently  despaired  of  finding  a  patron, 
and  he  once  again  returned  to  Wei. 

Confucius  was  now  sixty-three,  and  on  arriving  at  Wei  he 
found  a  grandson  of  his  former  friend,  the  duke  Ling,  holding 
the  throne  against  his  own  father,  who  had  been  driven  into 
exile  for  attempting  the  life  of  his  mother,  the  notorious  Nan- 
tsze.  This  chief,  who  called  himself  the  duke  Chuh,  being 
conscious  how  much  his  cause  would  be  strengthened  by  the 
support  of  Confucius,  sent  Tsze-loo  to  him,  saying,  "The 
Prince  of  Wei  has  been  waiting  to  secure  your  services  in  the 
administration  of  the  state,  and  wishes  to  know  what  you  con- 
sider is  the  first  thing  to  be  done."  "  It  is  first  of  all  neces- 
sary," replied  Confucius,  "to  rectify  names."  "Indeed,"  said 
Tzse-loo,  "you  are  wide  of  the  mark.  Why  need  there  be  such 
rectification  ? "  "  How  uncultivated  you  are,  Yew,"  answered 
Confucius ;  "  a  superior  man  shows  a  cautious  reserve  in  re- 
gard to  what  he  does  not  know.  If  names  be  not  correct,  lan- 
guage is  not  in  accordance  with  the  truth  of  things.  If  lan- 
guage be  not  in  accordance  with  the  truth  of  things,  affairs 
cannot  be  carried  on  successfully.  When  affairs  cannot  be  car- 
ried on  successfully,  proprieties  and  music  will  not  flourish. 
When  proprieties  and  music  do  not  flourish,  punishments  will 
not  properly  be  awarded.  When  punishments  are  not  prop- 
erly awarded,  the  people  do  not  know  how  to  move  hand  or 
foot.  Therefore  the  superior  man  considers  it  necessary  that 
names  should  be  used  appropriately,  and  that  his  directions 
should  be  carried  out  appropriately.  A  superior  man  requires 
that  his  words  should  be  correct." 

The  position  of  things  in  Wei  was  naturally  such  as  Confu- 
cius could  not  sanction,  and,  as  the  duke  showed  no  disposition 
to  amend  his  ways,  the  Sage  left  his  court,  and  lived  the  re- 
mainder of  the  five  or  six  years,  during  which  he  sojourned  in 
the  state,  in  close  retirement. 

He  had  now  been  absent  from  his  native  state  of  Loo  for 
fourteen  years,  and  the  time  had  come  when  he  was  to  return 


294  RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS 

to  it.  But,  by  the  irony  of  fate,  the  accomplishment  of  his 
long-felt  desire  was  due,  not  to  his  reputation  for  political  or 
ethical  wisdom,  but  to  his  knowledge  of  military  tactics,  which 
he  heartily  despised.  It  happened  that  at  this  time  Yen  Yew, 
a  disciple  of  the  Sage,  being  in  the  service  of  Ke  K'ang,  con- 
ducted a  compaign  against  T'se  with  much  success.  On  his 
triumphal  return,  Ke  K'ang  asked  him  how  he  had  acquired 
his  military  skill.  "From  Confucius,"  replied  the  general. 
"  And  what  kind  of  man  is  he  ? "  asked  Ke  K'ang.  "  Were 
you  to  employ  him,"  answered  Yen  Yew,  "your  fame  would 
spread  abroad ;  your  people  might  face  demons  and  gods,  and 
would  have  nothing  to  fear  or  to  ask  of  them.  And  if  you  ac- 
cepted his  principles,  were  you  to  collect  a  thousand  altars  of 
the  spirits  of  the  land  it  would  profit  you  nothing."  Attracted 
by  such  a  prospect,  Ke  K'ang  proposed  to  invite  the  Sage  to 
his  court.  "  If  you  do,"  said  Yen  Yew,  "  mind  you  do  not  allow 
mean  men  to  come  between  you  and  him." 

But  before  Ke  K'ang' s  invitation  reached  Confucius  an  in- 
cident occurred  which  made  the  arrival  of  the  messengers  from 
Loo  still  more  welcome  to  him.  K'ung  Wan,  an  officer  of 
Wei,  came  to  consult  him  as  to  the  best  means  of  attacking 
the  force  of  another  officer  with  whom  he  was  engaged  in  a 
feud.  Confucius,  disgusted  at  being  consulted  on  such  a  sub- 
ject, professed  ignorance,  and  prepared  to  leave  the  state,  say- 
ing as  he  went  away:  "The  bird  chooses  its  tree;  the  tree 
does  not  choose  the  bird."  At  this  juncture  Ke  K'ang's  en- 
voys arrived,  and  without  hesitation  he  accepted  the  invitation 
they  brought.  On  arriving  at  Loo,  he  presented  himself  at 
court,  and  in  reply  to  a  question  of  the  duke  Gae  on  the  sub- 
ject of  government,  threw  out  a  strong  hint  that  the  duke 
might  do  well  to  offer  him  an  appointment.  "  Government," 
he  said,  "consists  in  the  right  choice  of  ministers."  To  the 
same  question  put  by  Ke  K'ang  he  replied,  "  Employ  the  up- 
right and  put  aside  the  crooked,  and  thus  will  the  crooked  be 
made  upright." 

At  this  time  Ke  K'ang  was  perplexed  how  to  deal  with  the 
prevailing  brigandage.  "If  you,  sir,  were  not  avaricious, 
though  you  might  offer  rewards  to  induce  people  to  steal, 
they  would  not."  This  answer  sufficiently  indicates  the  esti- 


RISE    OF    CONFUCIUS  295 

mate  formed  by  Confucius  of  Ke  K'ang  and  therefore  of  the 
duke  Gae,  for  so  entirely  were  the  two  of  one  mind  that  the 
acts  of  Ke  K'ang  appear  to  have  been  invariably  indorsed 
by  the  duke.  It  was  plainly  impossible  that  Confucius  could 
serve  under  such  a  regime,  and  instead,  therefore,  of  seeking 
employment,  he  retired  to  his  study  and  devoted  himself  to  the 
completion  of  his  literary  undertaking. 

He  was  now  sixty-nine  years  of  age,  and  if  a  man  is  to  be 
considered  successful  only  when  he  succeeds  in  realizing  the 
dream  of  his  life,  he  must  be  deemed  to  have  been  unfortunate. 
Endowed  by  nature  with  a  large  share  of  reverence,  a  cold 
rather  than  a  fervid  disposition,  and  a  studious  mind,  and 
reared  in  the  traditions  of  the  ancient  kings,  whose  virtuous 
achievements  obtained  an  undue  prominence  by  the  oblitera- 
tion of  all  their  faults  and  failures,  he  believed  himself  capable 
of  effecting  far  more  than  it  was  possible  for  him  or  any  other 
man  to  accomplish.  In  the  earlier  part  of  his  career,  he  had  in 
Loo  an  opportunity  given  him  for  carrying  his  theories  of  gov- 
ernment into  practice,  and  we  have  seen  how  they  failed  to  do 
more  than  produce  a  temporary  improvement  in  the  condition 
of  the  people  under  his  immediate  rule.  But  he  had  a  lofty 
and  steady  confidence  in  himself  and  in  the  principles  which 
he  professed,  which  prevented  his  accepting  the  only  legitimate 
inference  which  could  be  drawn  from  his  want  of  success. 
The  lessons  of  his  own  experience  were  entirely  lost  upon  him, 
and  he  went  down  to  his  grave  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  firmly 
convinced  as  of  yore  that  if  he  were  placed  in  a  position  of 
authority  "  in  three  years  the  government  would  be  perfected." 

Finding  it  impossible  to  associate  himself  with  the  rulers 
of  Loo,  he  appears  to  have  resigned  himself  to  exclusion  from 
office.  His  wanderings  were  over: 

"  And  as  a  hare,  when  hounds  and  horns  pursue, 
Pants  to  the  place  from  whence  at  first  he  flew," 

he  had  lately  been  possessed  with  an  absorbing  desire  to 
return  once  more  to  Loo.  This  had  at  last  been  brought  about, 
and  he  made  up  his  mind  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days  in 
his  native  state.  He  had  now  leisure  to  finish  editing  the 
Shoo  King,  or  Book  of  History,  to  which  he  wrote  a  preface ; 
he  also  "  carefully  digested  the  rites  and  ceremonies  determined 


296  RISE   OF    CONFUCIUS 

by  the  wisdom  of  the  more  ancient  sages  and  kings ;  collected 
and  arranged  the  ancient  poetry ;  and  undertook  the  reform  of 
music."  He  made  a  diligent  study  of  the  Book  of  Changes,  and 
added  a  commentary  to  it,  which  is  sufficient  to  show  that  the 
original  meaning  of  the  work  was  as  much  a  mystery  to  him 
as  it  has  been  to  others.  His  idea  of  what  would  probably  be 
the  value  of  the  kernel  encased  in  this  unusually  hard  shell,  if 
it  were  once  rightly  understood,  is  illustrated  by  his  remark, 
"  that  if  some  years  could  be  added  to  his  life,  he  would  give 
fifty  of  them  to  the  study  of  the  Book  of  Changes  and  that  then 
he  expected  to  be  without  great  faults." 

In  the  year  B.C.  482  his  son  Le  died,  and  in  the  following 
year  he  lost  by  death  his  faithful  disciple  Yen  Hwuy.  When 
the  news  of  this  last  misfortune  reached  him,  he  exclaimed, 
"  Alas !  Heaven  is  destroying  me ! "  A  year  later  a  servant  of 
Ke  K'ang  caught  a  strange  one-horned  animal  while  on  a 
hunting  excursion,  and  as  no  one  present  could  tell  what  ani- 
mal it  was,  Confucius  was  sent  for.  At  once  he  declared  it  to 
be  a  K'e-lin,  and  legend  says  that  its  identity  with  the  one 
which  appeared  before  his  birth  was  proved  by  its  having  the 
piece  of  ribbon  on  its  horn  which  Ching-tsae  tied  to  the  weird 
animal  which  presented  itself  to  her  in  a  dream  on  Mount  Ne. 
This  second  apparition  could  only  have  one  meaning,  and  Con- 
fucius was  profoundly  affected  at  the  portent.  "  For  whom 
have  you  come  ? "  he  cried,  "  for  whom  have  you  come  ? "  and 
then,  bursting  into  tears,  he  added,  "  The  course  of  my  doc- 
trine is  run,  and  I  am  unknown." 

"  How  do  you  mean  that  you  are  unknown  ? "  asked  Tsze- 
kung.  "  I  don't  complain  of  Providence,"  answered  the  Sage, 
"nor  find  fault  with  men  that  learning  is  neglected  and  success 
is  worshipped.  Heaven  knows  me.  Never  does  a  superior  man 
pass  away  without  leaving  a  name  behind  him.  But  my  prin- 
ciples make  no  progress,  and  I,  how  shall  I  be  viewed  in  future 
ages  ? " 

At  this  time,  notwithstanding  his  declining  strength  and 
his  many  employments,  he  wrote  the  Chun  ts'ew,  or  Spting 
and  Autumn  Annals,  in  which  he  followed  the  history  of  his 
native  state  of  Loo,  from  the  time  of  the  duke  Yin  to  the 
fourteenth  year  of  the  duke  Gae,  that  is,  to  the  time  when  the 


RISE   OF    CONFUCIUS  297 

appearance  of  the  K'e-lin  warned  him  to  consider  his  life  at 
an  end. 

This  is  the  only  work  of  which  Confucius  was  the  author, 
and  of  this  every  word  is  his  own.  His  biographers  say  that 
"  what  was  written,  he  wrote,  and  what  was  erased,  was  erased 
by  him."  Not  an  expression  was  either  inserted  or  altered  by 
any  one  but  himself.  When  he  had  completed  the  work,  he 
handed  the  manuscript  to  his  disciples,  saying,  "  By  the  Spring 
and  Autumn  Annals  I  shall  be  known,  and  by  the  Spring  and 
Autumn  Annals  I  shall  be  condemned."  This  only  furnishes 
another  of  the  many  instances  in  which  authors  have  entirely 
misjudged  the  value  of  their  own  works. 

In  the  estimation  of  his  countrymen  even,  whose  reverence 
for  his  every  word  would  incline  them  to  accept  his  opinion  on 
this  as  on  every  subject,  the  Spring  and  Autumn  Annals  holds 
a  very  secondary  place,  his  utterances  recorded  in  the  Lun  yu, 
or  Confucian  Analects,  being  esteemed  of  far  higher  value,  as 
they  undoubtedly  are.  And  indeed  the  two  works  he  com- 
piled, the  Shoo  king  and  the  She  king,  hold  a  very  much 
higher  place  in  the  public  regard  than  the  book  on  which  he 
so  prided  himself.  To  foreigners,  whose  judgments  are  un- 
hampered by  his  recorded  opinion,  his  character  as  an  original 
historian  sinks  into  insignificance,  and  he  is  known  only  as  a 
philosopher  and  statesman. 

Once  again  only  do  we  hear  of  Confucius  presenting  him- 
self at  the  court  of  the  duke  after  this.  And  this  was  on  the 
occasion  of  the  murder  of  the  duke  of  T'se  by  one  of  his  offi- 
cers. We  must  suppose  that  the  crime  was  one  of  a  gross 
nature,  for  it  raised  Confucius'  fiercest  anger,  and  he  who  never 
wearied  of  singing  the  praises  of  those  virtuous  men  who  over- . 
threw  the  thrones  of  licentious  and  tyrannous  kings,' would 
have  had  no  room  for  blame  if  the  murdered  duke  had  been 
like  unto  Kee  or  Show.  But  the  outrage  was  one  which  Con- 
fucius felt  should  be  avenged,  and  he  therefore  bathed  and  ^pre- 
sented himself  at  court. 

"  Sir,"  said  he,  addressing  the  duke,  "  Ch'in  Hang  has  slain 
his  sovereign ;  I  beg  that  you  will  undertake  to  punish  him." 
But  the  duke  was  indisposed  to  move  in  the  matter,  and 
pleaded  the  comparative  strength  of  T'se.  Confucius,  how- 


298  RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS 

ever,  was  not  to  be  so  silenced.  "  One-half  of  the  people  of 
T'se,"  said  he,  "are  not  consenting  to  the  deed.  If  you  add 
to  the  people  of  Loo  one-half  of  the  people  of  T'se,  you  will  be 
sure  to  overcome."  This  numerical  argument  no  more  affected 
the  duke  than  the  statement  of  the  fact,  and  wearying  with 
Confucius'  importunity,  he  told  him  to  lay  the  matter  before 
the  chiefs  of  the  three  principal  families  of  the  state.  Before 
this  court  of  appeal,  whither  he  went  with  reluctance,  his  cause 
fared  no  better,  and  the  murder  remained  unavenged. 

At  a  period  when  every  prince  held  his  throne  by  the 
strength  of  his  right  arm,  revolutions  lost  half  their  crime,  and 
must  have  been  looked  upon  rather  as  trials  of  strength  than 
as  disloyal  villanies.  The  frequency  of  their  occurrence,  also, 
made  them  less  the  subjects  of  surprise  and  horror.  At  the 
time  of  which  we  write,  the  states  in  the  neighborhood  of  Loo 
appear  to  have  been  in  a  very  disturbed  condition.  Immedi- 
ately following  on  the  murder  of  the  duke  of  T'se,  news  was 
brought  to  Confucius  that  a  revolution  had  broken  out  in  Wei. 
This  was  an  occurrence  which  particularly  interested  him,  for 
when  he  returned  from  Wei  to  Loo  he  left  Tsze-loo  and  Tsze- 
kaou,  two  of  his  disciples,  engaged  in  the  official  service  of  the 
state.  "Tsze-kaou  will  return,"  was  Confucius'  remark,  when 
he  was  told  of  the  outbreak,  "  but  Tsze-loo  will  die."  The  pre- 
diction was  verified.  For  when  Tsze-kaou  saw  that  matters 
were  desperate  he  made  his  escape ;  but  Tsze-loo  remained  to 
defend  his  chief,  and  fell  fighting  in  the  cause  of  his  master. 
Though  Confucius  had  looked  forward  to  the  event  as  prob- 
able, he  was  none  the  less  grieved  when  he  heard  that  it  had 
come  about,  and  he  mourned  for  his  friend,  whom  he  was  so 
soon  to  follow  to  the  grave. 

One  morning,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  B.C.  478,  he  walked 
in  front  of  his  door,  mumbling  as  he  went : 

"The  great  mountain  must  crumble; 
The  strong  beam  must  break ; 
And  the  wise  man  withers  away  like  a  plant." 

These  words  came  as  a  presage  of  evil  to  the  faithful  Tsze- 
kung.  "If  the  great  mountain  crumble,"  said  he,  "to  what 
shall  I  look  up  ?  If  the  strong  beam  break,  and  the  wise  man 
wither  away,  on  whom  shall  I  lean  ?  The  master,  I  fear,  is 


RISE   OF   CONFUCIUS  299 

going  to  be  ill."  So  saying,  he  hastened  after  Confucius  into 
the  house.  "  What  makes  you  so  late  ? "  said  Confucius,  when 
the  disciple  presented  himself  before  him ;  and  then  he  added, 
"  According  to  the  statutes  of  Hea,  the  corpse  was  dressed  and 
coffined  at  the  top  of  the  eastern  steps,  treating  the  dead  as  if 
he  were  still  the  host.  Under  the  Yin,  the  ceremony  was  per- 
formed between  the  two  pillars,  as  if  the  dead  were  both  host 
and  guest.  The  rule  of  Chow  is  to  perform  it  at  the  top  of 
the  western  steps,  treating  the  dead  as  if  he  were  a  guest.  I 
am  a  man  of  Yin,  and  last  night  I  dreamed  that  I  was  sitting, 
with  offerings  before  me,  between  the  two  pillars.  No  intelli- 
gent monarch  arises ;  there  is  not  one  in  the  empire  who  will 
make  me  his  master.  My  time  is  come  to  die."  It  is  emi- 
nently characteristic  of  Confucius  that  in  his  last  recorded 
speech  and  dream,  his  thoughts  should  so  have  dwelt  on  the 
ceremonies  of  bygone  ages.  But  the  dream  had  its  fulfilment. 
That  same  day  he  took  to  his  bed,  and  after  a  week's  illness  he 
expired. 

On  the  banks  of  the  river  Sze,  to  the  north  of  the  capital 
city  of  Loo,  his  disciples  buried  him,  and  for  three  years  they 
mourned  at  his  grave.  Even  such  marked  respect  as  this  fell 
short  of  the  homage  which  Tsze-kung,  his  most  faithful  dis- 
ciple, felt  was  due  to  him,  and  for  three  additional  years  that 
loving  follower  testified  by  his  grief  his  reverence  for  his  mas- 
ter. "  I  have  all  my  life  had  the  heaven  above  my  head,"  said 
he,  "but  I  do  not  know  its  height;  and  the  earth  under  my 
feet,  but  I  know  not  its  thickness.  In  serving  Confucius,  I 
am  like  a  thirsty  man,  who  goes  with  his  pitcher  to  the  river 
and  there  drinks  his  fill,  without  knowing  the  river's  depth." 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 
INSTITUTION    OF   TRIBUNES 

B.C.  510-494 

HENRY  GEORGE  LIDDELL 

The  republic  of  Rome  was  the  outcome  of  a  sudden  revolution  caused 
by  the  crimes  of  the  House  of  Tarquin,  an  Etruscan  family  who  had 
reached  the  highest  power  at  Rome.  The  indignation  raised  by  the  rape 
of  Lucretia  by  Sextus  Tarquinius,  and  the  suicide  of  the  outraged  lady 
at  Collatia,  moved  her  father,  in  conjunction  with  Lucius  Junius  Brutus 
and  Publius  Valerius,  to  start  a  rebellion.  The  people  were  assembled 
by  curias,  or  wards,  and  voted  that  Tarquinius  Superbus  should  be 
stripped  of  the  kingly  power,  and  that  he  and  all  his  family  should  be 
banished  from  Rome. 

This  was  accordingly  done ;  and,  instead  of  kings,  consuls  were  ap- 
pointed to  wield  the  supreme  power.  These  consuls  were  elected  annu- 
ally at  the  comitia  centuriata,  and  they  had  sovereign  power  granted 
them  by  a  vote  of  the  comitia  curiata.  The  first  consuls  chosen  were 
Lucius  Junius  Brutus  and  Lucius  Tarquinius  Collatinus. 

What  is  known  as  the  Secession  to  the  Sacred  Hill  took  place  when 
the  plebeians  of  Rome,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Republic,  indignant  at  the 
oppression  and  cruelty  of  the  patricians,  left  the  city  en  masse  and 
gathered  with  hostile  manifestations  at  a  hill,  Mons  Sacer,  some  dis- 
tance from  Rome.  It  was  here  Menenius  Agrippa  conciliated  them  by 
reciting  the  famous  fable  of  "The  Belly  and  the  Members."  After  this 
the  people  were  induced  to  come  to  terms  with  the  patricians  and  to 
return  to  the  city. 

The  people  had,  however,  gained  a  great  advantage  by  their  bold 
defiance  of  the  consular  and  patrician  class,  who  had  practically  been 
supeme  in  the  state,  had  been  oppressive  money-lenders,  and  had  con- 
trolled the  decisions  of  the  law  courts.  It  was  not  in  vain  that  the  people 
now  demanded  that  as  the  two  consuls  were  practically  elected  to  further 
the  interests  of  the  upper  class,  so  they,  the  plebeians,  should  have  the 
election  of  two  tribunes  to  protect  them  from  wrong  and  oppression. 
These  new  officers  were  duly  appointed,  and  eventually  their  number 
was  increased  to  ten.  Their  power  was  almost  absolute,  but  it  never 
seems  to  have  been  abused,  and  this  fact  is  a  proof  of  the  native  modera- 
tion of  the  ancient  Romans.  There  have  been  many  constitutional  Strug- 

300 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     301 

gles  in  the  history  of  modern  times,  butnothing  like  the  plebeian  tribunate 
ever  appeared,  and  it  is  a  question  if  the  institution  could  have 
existed  for  a  month,  in  any  country  of  modern  times,  with  the  salutary 
influences  which  it  exercised  in  early  Rome. 


had  made  himself  king  by  the  aid  of  the  patri- 
cians, and  chiefly  by  means  of  the  third  or  Lucerian 
tribe,  to  which  his  family  belonged  The  burgesses  of  the 
Gentes  were  indignant  at  the  curtailment  of  their  privileges  by 
the  popular  reforms  of  Servius,  and  were  glad  to  lend  them- 
selves to  any  overthrow  of  his  power.  But  Tarquin  soon  kicked 
away  the  ladder  by  which  he  had  risen.  He  abrogated,  it  is 
true,  the  hated  Assembly  of  the  Centuries;  but  neither  did  he 
pay  any  heed  to  the  Curiate  Assembly,  nor  did  he  allow  any 
new  members  to  be  chosen  into  the  senate  in  place  of  those 
who  were  removed  by  death  or  other  causes  ;  so  that  even 
those  who  had  helped  him  to  the  throne  repented  them  of  their 
deed.  The  name  of  Superbus,  or  the  Proud,  testifies  to  the 
general  feeeling  against  the  despotic  rule  of  the  second  Tar- 
quin. 

It  was  by  foreign  alliances  that  he  calculated  on  supporting 
his  despotism  at  home.  The  Etruscans  of  Tarquinii,  and  all 
its  associate  cities,  were  his  friends  ;  and  among  the  Latins  also 
he  sought  to  raise  a  power  which  might  counterbalance  the 
senate  and  people  of  Rome. 

The  wisdom  of  Tarquinius  Priscus  and  Servius  had  united 
all  the  Latin  name  to  Rome,  so  that  Rome  had  become  the 
sovereign  city  of  Latium.  The  last  Tarquin  drew  those  ties 
still  closer.  He  gave  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  Octavius 
Mamilius,  chief  of  Tusculum,  and  favored  the  Latins  in  all 
things.  But  at  a  general  assembly  of  the  Latins  at  the  Feren- 
tine  Grove,  beneath  the  Alban  Mount,  where  they  had  been 
accustomed  to  meet  of  olden  time  to  settle  their  national 
affairs,  Turnus  Herdonius  of  Aricia  rose  and  spoke  against 
him.  Then  Tarquinius  accused  him  of  high  treason,  and 
brought  false  witnesses  against  him  ;  and  so  powerful  with  the 
Latins  was  the  king  that  they  condemned  their  countryman 
to  be  drowned  in  the  Ferentine  water,  and  obeyed  Tarquinius 
in  all  things. 

With  them  he  made  war  upon  the  Volscians  and  took  the 


302     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 

city  of  Suessa,  wherein  was  a  great  booty.  This  booty  he  ap- 
plied to  the  execution  of  great  works  in  the  city,  in  emulation 
of  his  father  and  King  Servius.  The  elder  Tarquin  had  built 
up  the  side  of  the  Tarpeian  rock  and  levelled  the  summit,  to 
be  the  foundation  of  a  temple  of  Jupiter,  but  he  had  not  com- 
pleted the  work.  Tarquinius  Superbus  now  removed  all  the 
temples  and  shrines  of  the  old  Sabine  gods  which  had  been 
there  since  the  time  of  Titus  Tatius ;  but  the  goddess  of 
Youth  and  the  god  Terminus  kept  their  place,  whereby  was 
signified  that  the  Roman  people  should  enjoy  undecaying 
vigor,  and  that  the  boundaries  of  their  empire  should  never  be 
drawn  in.  And  on  the  Tarpeian  height  he  built  a  magnificent 
temple,  to  be  dedicated  jointly  to  the  great  gods  of  the  Latins 
and  Etruscans,  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva;  and  this  part  of 
the  Saturnian  Hill  was  ever  after  called  the  Capitol  or  the 
Chief  Place,  while  the  upper  part  was  called  the  Arx  or  Citadel. 

He  brought  architects  from  Etruria  to  plan  the  temple,  but 
he  forced  the  Roman  people  to  work  for  him  without  hire. 

One  day  a  strange  woman  appeared  before  the  king  and 
offered  him  nine  books  to  buy ;  and  when  he  refused  them  she 
went  away  and  burned  three  of  the  nine  books  and  brought 
back  the  remaining  six  and  offered  to  sell  them  at  the  same 
price  that  she  had  asked  for  the  nine;  and  when  he  laughed  at 
her  and  again  refused,  she  went  as  before  and  burned  three 
more  books,  and  came  back  and  asked  still  the  same  price  for 
the  three  that  were  left.  Then  the  king  was  struck  by  her 
pertinacity,  and  he  consulted  his  augurs  what  this  might  be ; 
and  they  bade  him  by  all  means  buy  the  three,  and  said  he  had 
done  wrong  not  to  buy  the  nine,  for  these  were  the  books  of 
the  Sibyl  and  contained  great  secrets.  So  the  books  were 
kept  underground  in  the  Capitol  in  a  stone  chest,  and  two  men 
(duumviri)  were  appointed  to  take  charge  of  them,  and  consult 
them  when  the  state  was  in  danger. 

The  only  Latin  town  that  defied  Tarquin's  power  was 
Gabii ;  and  Sextus,  the  king's  youngest  son,  promised  to  win 
this  place  also  for  his  father.  So  he  fled  from  Rome  and 
presented  himself  at  Gabii ;  and  there  he  made  complaints  of 
his  father's  tyranny  and  prayed  for  protection.  The  Gabians 
believed  him,  and  took  him  into  their  city,  and  they  trusted 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     303 

him,  so  that  in  time  he  was  made  commander  of  their  army 
Now  his  father  suffered  him  to  conquer  in  many  small  battles 
and  the  Gabians  trusted  him  more  and  more.  Then  he  sent 
privately  to  his  father,  and  asked  what  he  should  do  to  make  the 
Gabians  submit.  Then  King  Tarquin  gave  no  answer  to  the 
messenger,  but,  as  he  walked  up  and  down  his  garden,  he  kept 
cutting  off  the  heads  of  the  tallest  poppies  with  his  staff.  At 
last  the  messenger  was  tired,  and  went  back  to  Sextus  and  told 
him  what  had  passed.  But  Sextus  understood  what  his  father 
meant,  and  he  began  to  accuse  falsely  all  the  chief  men,  and 
some  of  them  he  put  to  death  and  some  he  banished.  So  at 
last  the  city  of  Gabii  was  left  defenceless,  and  Sextus  delivered 
it  up  to  his  father. 

While  Tarquin  was  building  his  temple  on  the  Capitol,  a 
strange  portent  offered  itself;  for  a  snake  came  forth  and  de- 
voured the  sacrifices  on  the  altar.    The  king,  not  content  with 
the  interpretation  of  his  Etruscan  soothsayers,  sent  persons  to 
consult  the  famous  oracle  of  the  Greeks  at  Delphi,  and  the  per- 
sons he  sent  were  his  own  sons  Titus  and  Aruns,  and  his  sister's 
son,  L.  Junius,  a  young  man  who,  to  avoid  his  uncle's  jealousy, 
feigned  to  be  without  common  sense,  wherefore  he  was  called 
Jrutus  or  the  Dullard.    The  answer  given  by  the  oracle  was 
that  the  chief  power  of  Rome  should  belong  to  him  of  the  three 
who  should  first  kiss  his  mother;  and  the  two  sons  of  King 
Tarquin  agreed  to  draw  lots  which  of  them  should  do  this  as 
soon  as  they  returned  home.    But  Brutus  perceived  that  the 
oracle  had  another  sense;  so  as  soon  as  they  landed  in  Italy  he 
fell  down  on  the  ground  as  if  he  had  stumbled,  and  kissed  the 
earth,  for  she  (he  thought)  was  the  true  mother  of  all  mortal 
things. 

When  the  sons  of  Tarquin  returned  with  their  cousin,  L. 
Junius  Brutus,  they  found  the  king  at  war  with  the  Rutulians 
of  Ardea.  Being  unable  to  take  the  place  by  storm,  he  was 
forced  to  blockade  it;  and  while  the  Roman  army  was  en- 
camped before  the  town  the  young  men  used  to  amuse  them- 
selves at  night  with  wine  and  wassail.  One  night  there  was  a 
feast,  at  which  Sextus,  the  king's  third  son,  was  present,  as 
also  Collatinus,  the  son  of  Egerius,  the  king's  uncle,  who  had 
teen  made  governor  of  Collatia.  So  they  soon  began  to  ciis 


304     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 

pute  about  the  worthiness  of  their  wives;  and  when  each  main- 
tained that  his  own  wife  was  worthiest,  "  Come,  gentlemen," 
said  Collatinus,  "  let  us  take  horse  and  see  what  our  wives  are 
doing;  they  expect  us  not,  and  so  we  shall  know  the  truth." 
All  agreed,  and  they  galloped  to  Rome,  and  there  they  found 
the  wives  of  all  the  others  feasting  and  revelling:  but  when 
they  came  to  Collatia  they  found  Lucretia,  the  wife  of  Collati- 
nus, not  making  merry  like  the  rest,  but  sitting  in  the  midst 
of  her  handmaids  carding  wool  and  spinning;  so  they  all 
allowed  that  Lucretia  was  the  worthiest. 

Now  Lucretia  was  the  daughter  of  a  noble  Roman,  Spurius 
Lucretius,  who  was  at  this  time  prefect  of  the  city ;  for  it  was 
the  custom,  when  the  kings  went  out  to  war,  that  they  left  a 
chief  man  at  home  to  administer  all  things  in  the  king's  name, 
and  he  was  called  prefect  of  the  city. 

But  it  chanced  that  Sextus,  the  king's  son,  when  he  saw 
the  fair  Lucretia,  was  smitten  with  lustful  passion ;  and  a  few 
days  after  he  came  again  to  Collatia,  and  Lucretia  entertained 
him  hospitably  as  her  husband's  cousin  and  friend.  But  at 
midnight  he  arose  and  came  with  stealthy  steps  to  her  bedside : 
and  holding  a  sword  in  his  right  hand,  and  laying  his  left  hand 
upon  her  breast,  he  bade  her  yield  to  his  wicked  desires ;  for  if 
not,  he  would  slay  her  and  lay  one  of  her  slaves  beside  her,  and 
would  declare  that  he  had  taken  them  in  adultery.  So  for 
shame  she  consented  to  that  which  no  fear  would  have  wrung 
from  her :  and  Sextus,  having  wrought  this  deed  of  shame,  re- 
turned to  the  camp. 

Then  Lucretia  sent  to  Rome  for  her  father,  and  to  the 
camp  at  Ardea  for  her  husband.  They  came  in  haste.  Lucre- 
tius brought  with  him  P.  Valerius,  and  Collatinus  brought  L. 
Junius  Brutus,  his  cousin.  And  they  came  in  and  asked  if  all 
was  well.  Then  she  told  them  what  was  done :  "  but,"  she  said, 
"  my  body  only  has  suffered  the  shame,  for  my  will  consented 
not  to  the  deed.  Therefore,"  she  cried,  "  avenge  me  on  the 
wretch  Sextus.  As  for  me,  though  my  heart  has  not  sinned,  I 
can  live  no  longer.  No  one  shall  say  that  Lucretia  set  an  ex- 
ample of  living  in  unchastity."  So  she  drew  forth  a  knife  and 
stabbed  herself  to  the  heart. 

When  they  saw  that,  her  father  and  her  husband  cried 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     305 

aloud;  but  Brutus  drew  the  knife  from  the  wound,  and  holding 
it  up,  spoke  thus :  "  By  this  pure  blood  I  swear  before  the  gods 
that  I  will  pursue  L.  Tarquinius  the  Proud  and  all  his  bloody 
house  with  fire,  sword,  or  in  whatsoever  way  I  may,  and  that 
neither  they  nor  any  other  shall  hereafter  be  king  in  Rome." 
Then  he  gave  the  knife  to  Collatinus  and  Lucretius  and  Vale- 
rius, and  they  all  swore  likewise,  much  marvelling  to  hear  such 
words  from  L.  Junius  the  Dullard.  And  they  took  up  the  body 
of  Lucretia,  and  carried  it  into  the  Forum,  and  called  on  the 
men  of  Collatia  to  rise  against  the  tyrant.  So  they  set  a  guard 
at  the  gates  of  the  town,  to  prevent  any  news  of  the  matter 
being  carried  to  King  Tarquin :  and  they  themselves,  followed 
by  the  youth  of  Collatia,  went  to  Rome.  Here  Brutus,  who 
was  chief  captain  of  the  knights,  called  the  people  together, 
and  he  told  them  what  had  been  done,  and  called  on  them  by 
the  deed  of  shame  wrought  against  Lucretius  and  Collatinus 
— by  all  that  they  had  suffered  from  the  tyrants — by  the 
abominable  murder  of  good  King  Servius — to  assist  them  in 
taking  vengeance  on  the  Tarquins.  So  it  was  hastily  agreed 
to  banish  Tarquinius  and  his  family.  The  youth  declared 
themselves  ready  to  follow  Brutus  against  the  king's  army,  and 
the  seniors  put  themselves  under  the  rule  of  Lucretius,  the 
prefect  of  the  city.  In  this  tumult,  the  wicked  Tullia  fled  from 
her  house,  pursued  by  the  curses  of  all  men,  who  prayed  that 
the  avengers  of  her  father's  blood  might  be  upon  her. 

When  the  king  heard  what  had  passed,  he  set  off  in  all 
haste  for  the  city.  Brutus  also  set  off  for  the  camp  at  Ardea; 
and  he  turned  aside  that  he  might  not  meet  his  uncle  the  king. 
So  he  came  to  the  camp  at  Ardea,  and  the  king  came  to  Rome. 
And  all  the  Romans  at  Ardea  welcomed  Brutus,  and  joined 
their  arms  to  his,  and  thrust  out  all  the  king's  sons  from  the 
camp.  But  the  people  of  Rome  shut  the  gates  against  the 
king,  so  that  he  could  not  enter.  And  King  Tarquin,  with 
his  sons  Titus  and  Aruns,  went  into  exile  and  lived  at  Caere  in 
Etruria.  But  Sextus  fled  to  Gabii,  where  he  had  before  held 
rule,  and  the  people  of  Gabii  slew  him  in  memory  of  his  former 
cruelty. 

So  L.  Tarquinius  Superbus  was  expelled  from  Rome,  after 
he  had  been  king  five-and-twenty  years.  And  in  memory  of 

E.,  VOL.  I.— 20 


306     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 

this  event  was  instituted  a  festival  called  the  "  Regifugium"  01 
"  Fugalia,"  which  was  celebrated  every  year  on  the  24th  day  of 
February. 

To  gratify  the  plebeians,  the  patricians  consented  to  re- 
store, in  some  measure  at  least,  the  popular  institutions  of 
King  Servius ;  and  it  was  resolved  to  follow  his  supposed  in- 
tention with  regard  to  the  supreme  government — that  is,  to 
have  two  magistrates  elected  every  year,  who  were  to  have  the 
same  power  as  the  king  during  the  time  of  their  rule.  These 
were  in  after  days  known  by  the  name  of  Consuls ;  but  in  an- 
cient times  they  were  called  "  Praetors"  or  Judges.  They  were 
elected  at  the  great  Assembly  of  Centuries ;  and  they  had  sov- 
ereign power  conferred  upon  them  by  the  assembly  of  the 
Curies.  They  wore  a  robe  edged  with  violet  color,  sat  in  their 
chairs  of  state  called  curule  chairs,  and  were  attended  by 
twelve  lictors  each.  Thess  lictors  carried  fasces,  or  bundles  of 
rods,  out  of  which  arose  an  axe,  in  token  of  the  power  of  life 
and  death  possessed  by  the  consuls  as  successors  of  the  kings. 
But  only  one  of  them  at  a  time  had  a  right  to  this  power ;  and, 
in  token  thereof,  his  colleague's  fasces  had  no  axes  in  them. 
Each  retained  this  mark  of  sovereign  power  (Imperium)  for  a 
month  at  a  time. 

The  first  consuls  were  L.  Junius  Brutus  and  L.  Tarquinius 
Collatinus. 

The  new  consuls  filled  up  the  senate  to  the  proper  number  of 
three  hundred ;  and  the  new  senators  were  called  "Conscripti," 
while  the  old  members  retained  their  old  name  of  "  Patres."  So 
after  this  the  whole  senate  was  addressed  by  speakers  as  "  Pa- 
tres, Conscripti."  But  in  later  times  it  was  forgotten  that  these 
names  belonged  to  different  sorts  of  persons,  and  the  whole 
senate  was  addressed  as  by  one  name,  "  Patres  Conscripti." 

The  name  of  king  was  hateful.  But  certain  sacrifices  had 
always  been  performed  by  the  king  in  person ;  and  therefore, 
to  keep  up  form,  a  person  was  still  chosen,  with  the  title  of 
"Rex  Sacrorum"  or  "Rex  Sacrificulus,"  to  perform  these 
offerings.  But  even  he  was  placed  under  the  authority  of  the 
chief  pontifex. 

After  his  expulsion,  King  Tarquin  sent  messengers  to 
Rome  to  ask  that  his  property  should  be  given  up  to  him,  and 


ROME   ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     307 

the  senate  decreed  that  his  prayer  should  be  granted.  But  the 
king's  ambassadors,  while  they  were  in  Rome,  stirred  up 
the  minds  of  the  young  men  and  others  who  had  been  favored 
by  Tarquin,  so  that  a  plot  was  made  to  bring  him  back. 
Among  those  who  plotted  were  Titus  and  Tiberius,  the  sons  of 
the  Consul  Brutus ;  and  they  gave  letters  to  the  messengers 
of  the  king.  But  it  chanced  that  a  certain  slave  hid  himself  in 
the  place  where  they  met,  and  overheard  them  plotting;  and 
he  came  and  told  the  thing  to  the  consuls,  who  seized  the  mes- 
sengers of  the  king  with  the  letters  upon  their  persons,  authen- 
ticated by  the  seals  of  the  young  men.  The  culprits  were  im- 
mediately arrested ;  but  the  ambassadors  were  let  go,  because 
their  persons  were  regarded  as  sacred.  And  the  goods  of 
King  Tarquin  were  given  up  for  plunder  to  the  people. 

Then  the  traitors  were  brought  up  before  the  consuls,  and 
the  sight  was  such  as  to  move  all  beholders  to  pity ;  for  among 
them  were  the  sons  of  L.  Junius  Brutus  himself,  the  first  con- 
sul, the  liberator  of  the  Roman  people.  And  now  all  men  saw 
how  Brutus  loved  his  country ;  for  he  bade  the  lictors  put  all 
the  traitors  to  death,  and  his  own  sons  first ;  and  men  could 
mark  in  his  face  the  struggle  between  his  duty  as  a  chief  mag- 
istrate of  Rome  and  his  feelings  as  a  father.  And  while  they 
praised  and  admired  him,  they  pitied  him  yet  more. 

Then  a  decree  of  the  senate  was  made  that  no  one  of  the 
blood  of  the  Tarquins  should  remain  in  Rome.  And  since 
Collatinus,  the  consul,  was  by  descent  a  Tarquin,  even  he  was 
obliged  to  give  up  his  office  and  return  to  Collatia.  In  his 
room,  P.  Valerius  was  chosen  consul  by  the  people., 

This  was  the  first  attempt  to  restore  Tarquin  the  Proud. 

When  Tarquin  saw  that  the  plot  at  home  had  failed,  he 
prevailed  on  the  people  of  Tarquinii  and  Veii  to  make  war  with 
him  against  the  Romans.  But  the  consuls  came  out  against 
them ;  Valerius  commanding  the  main  army,  and  Brutus  the 
cavalry.  And  it  chanced  that  Aruns,  the  king's  son,  led  the 
cavalry  of  the  enemy.  When  he  saw  Brutus  he  spurred  his 
horse  against  him,  and  Brutus  declined  not  the  combat.  So 
they  rode  straight  at  each  other  with  levelled  spears;  and  so 
fierce  was  the  shock,  that  they  pierced  each  other  through 
from  breast  to  back,  and  both  fell  dead 


308     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 

Then,  also,  the  armies  fought,  but  the  battle  was  neither 
won  nor  lost.  But  in  the  night  a  voice  was  heard  by  the  Etrus- 
cans, saying  that  the  Romans  were  the  conquerors.  So  the 
enemy  fled  by  night;  and  when  the  Romans  arose  in  the 
morning,  there  was  no  man  to  oppose  them.  Then  they  took 
up  the  body  of  Brutus,  and  departed  home,  and  buried  him  in 
public  with  great  pomp,  and  the  matrons  of  Rome  mourned 
him  for  a  whole  year,  because  he  had  avenged  the  injury  of 
Lucretia. 

And  thus  the  second  attempt  to  restore  King  Tarquin  was 
frustrated. 

After  the  death  of  Brutus,  Publius  Valerius  ruled  the  peo- 
ple fora  while  by  himself,  and  he  began  to  build  himself  a 
house  upon  the  ridge  called  Velia,  which  looks  down  upon  the 
Forum.  So  the  people  thought  that  he  was  going  to  make 
himself  king;  but  when  he  heard  this,  he  called  an  assembly  of 
the  people,  and  appeared  before  them  with  his  fasces  lowered, 
and  with  no  axes  in  them,  whence  the  custom  remained  ever 
after,  that  no  consular  lictors  wore  axes  within  the  city,  and  no 
consul  had  power  of  life  and  death  except  when  he  was  in  com- 
mand of  his  legions  abroad.  And  he  pulled  down  the  begin- 
ning of  his  house  upon  the  Velia,  and  built  it  below  that  hill. 
Also  he  passed  laws  that  every  Roman  citizen  might  appeal  to 
the  people  against  the  judgment  of  the  chief  magistrates. 
Wherefore  he  was  greatly  honored  among  the  people,  and  was 
called  "Poplicola,"  or  "Friend  of  the  People." 

After  this  Valerius  called  together  the  great  Assembly  of 
the  Centuries,  and  they  chose  Sp.  Lucretius,  father  of  Lucre- 
tius, to  succeed  Brutus.  But  he  was  an  old  man,  and  in  not 
many  days  he  died.  So  M.  Horatius  was  chosen  in  his  stead. 

The  temple  on  the  Capitol  which  King  Tarquin  began  had 
never  yet  been  consecrated.  Then  Valerius  and  Horatius  drew 
lots  which  should  be  the  consecrator,  and  the  lot  fell  on  Hora- 
tius. But  the  friends  of  Valerius  murmured,  and  they  wished 
to  prevent  Horatius  from  having  the  honor;  so  when  he  was 
now  saying  the  prayer  of  consecration,  with  his  hand  upon  the 
doorpost  of  the  temple,  there  came  a  messenger,  who  told  him 
that  his  son  was  just  dead,  and  that  one  mourning  for  a  son 
could  not  rightly  consecrate  the  temple.  But  Horatius  kept 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     309 

his  hand  upon  the  doorpost,  and  told  them  to  see  to  the  burial 
of  his  son,  and  finished  the  rites  of  consecration.  Thus  did  he 
honor  the  gods  even  above  his  own  son. 

In  the  next  year  Valerius  was  again  made  consul,  with  T. 
Lucretius;  and  Tarquinius,  despairing  now  of  aid  from  his 
friends  at  Veii  and  Tarquinii,  went  to  Lars  Porsenna  of  Clu- 
sium,  a  city  on  the  river  Clanis,  which  falls  into  the  Tiber. 
Porsenna  was  at  this  time  acknowledged  as  chief  of  the  twelve 
Etruscan  cities ;  and  he  assembled  a  powerful  army  and  came 
to  Rome.  He  came  so  quickly  that  he  reached  the  Tiber  and 
was  near  the  Sublician  Bridge  before  there  was  time  to  de- 
stroy it ;  and  if  he  had  crossed  it  the  city  would  have  been  lost. 
Then  a  noble  Roman,  called  Horatius  Codes,  of  the  Lucerian 
tribe,  with  two  friends — Sp.  Lartius,  a  Ramnian,  and  T.  Her- 
minius,  a  Titian — posted  themselves  at  the  far  end  of  the 
bridge,  and  defended  the  passage  against  all  the  Etruscan 
host,  while  the  Romans  were  cutting  it  off  behind  them. 
When  it  was  all  but  destroyed,  his  two  friends  retreated  across 
the  bridge,  and  Horatius  was  left  alone  to  bear  the  whole  at- 
tack of  the  enemy.  Well  he  kept  his  ground,  standing  un- 
moved amid  the  darts  which  were  showered  upon  his  shield, 
till  the  last  beams  of  the  bridge  fell  crashing  into  the  river. 
Then  he  prayed,  saying,  "  Father  Tiber,  receive  me  and  bear 
me  up,  I  pray  thee."  So  he  plunged  in,  and  reached  the  other 
side  safely ;  and  the  Romans  honored  him  greatly :  they  put 
up  his  statue  in  the  Comitium,  and  gave  him  as  much  land  as 
he  could  plough  round  in  a  day,  and  every  man  at  Rome  sub- 
scribed the  cost  of  one  day's  food  to  reward  him 

Then  Porsenna,  disappointed  in  his  attempt  to  surprise  the 
city,  occupied  the  Hill  Janiculum,  and  besieged  the  city,  so 
that  the  people  were  greatly  distressed  by  hunger.  But  C. 
Mucius,  a  noble  youth,  resolved  to  deliver  his  country  by  the 
death  of  the  king.  So  he  armed  himself  with  a  dagger,  and 
went  to  the  place  where  the  king  was  used  to  sit  in  judgment. 
It  chanced  that  the  soldiers  were  receiving  their  pay  from  the 
king's  secretary,  who  sat  at  his  right  hand  splendidly  ap- 
parelled; and  as  this  man  seemed  to  be  chief  in  authority, 
Mucius  thought  that  this  must  be  the  king;  so  he  stabbed  him 
to  the  heart.  Then  the  guards  seized  him  and  dragged  him 


3io     ROME   ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 

before  the  king,  who  was  greatly  enraged,  and  ordered  them  to 
burn  him  alive  if  he  would  not  confess  the  whole  affair.  Then 
Mucius  stood  before  the  king  and  said :  "  See  how  little  thy 
tortures  can  avail  to  make  a  brave  man  tell  the  secrets  com- 
mitted to  him  " ;  and  so  saying,  he  thrust  his  right  hand  into 
the  fire  of  the  altar,  and  held  it  in  the  flame  with  unmoved 
countenance.  Then  the  king  marvelled  at  his  courage,  and 
ordered  him  to  be  spared,  and  sent  away  in  safety :  "  for,"  said 
he,  "  thou  art  a  brave  man,  and  hast  done  more  harm  to  thyself 
than  to  me."  Then  Mucius  replied :  "  Thy  generosity,  O  king, 
prevails  more  with  me  than  thy  threats.  Know  that  three 
hundred  Roman  youths  have  sworn  thy  death :  my  lot  came 
first.  But  all  the  rest  remain,  prepared  to  do  and  suffer  like 
myself."  So  he  was  let  go,  and  returned  home,  and  was  called 
"  Scaevola,"  or  "The  Left-handed,"  because  his  right  hand  had 
been  burnt  off 

King  Porsenna  was  greatly  moved  by  the  danger  he  had 
escaped,  and  perceiving  the  obstinate  determination  of  the  Ro- 
mans, he  offered  to  make  peace.  The  Romans  gladly  gave 
ear  to  his  words,  for  they  were  hard  pressed,  and  they  con- 
sented to  give  back  all  the  land  which  they  had  won  from  the 
Etruscans  beyond  the  Tiber.  And  they  gave  hostages  to  the 
king  in  pledge  that  they  would  obey  him  as  they  had  promised, 
ten  youths  and  ten  maidens.  But  one  of  the  maidens,  named 
Clcelia,  had  a  man's  heart,  and  she  persuaded  all  her  fellows  to 
escape  from  the  king's  camp  and  swim  across  the  Tiber.  At 
first  King  Porsenna  was  wroth ;  but  then  he  was  much  amazed, 
even  more  than  at  the  deeds  of  Horatius  and  Mucius.  So 
when  the  Romans  sent  back  Clcelia  and  her  fellow-maidens — 
for  they  would  not  break  faith  with  the  king — he  bade  her  re- 
turn home  again,  ana  told  her  she  might  take  whom  she  pleased 
of  the  youths  who  were  hostages ;  and  she  chose  those  who 
were  yet  boys,  and  restored  them  to  their  parents. 

So  the  Roman  people  gave  certain  lands  to  young  Mucius, 
and  they  set  up  an  equestrian  statue  to  the  bold  Clcelia  at  the 
top  of  the  Sacred  Way.  And  King  Porsenna  returned  home ; 
and  thus  the  third  and  most  formidable  attempt  to  bring  back 
Tarquin  failed. 

When  Tarquin  now  found  that  he  had  no  hopes  of  further 


ROME   ESTABLISHED  AS  A   REPUBLIC      311 

assistance  from  Porsenna  and  his  Etruscan  friends,  he  went 
and  dwelt  at  Tusculum,  where  Mamilius  Octavius,  his  son-in- 
law,  was  still  chief.  Then  the  thirty  Latin  cities  combined  to 
gether  and  made  this  Octavius  their  dictator,  and  bound  them- 
selves to  restore  their  old  friend  and  ally,  King  Tarquin,  to  the 
sovereignty  of  Rome, 

P.  Valerius,  who  was  called  "Poplicola,"  was  now  dead,  and 
the  Romans  looked  about  for  some  chief  worthy  to  lead  them 
against  the  army  of  the  Latins.  Poplicola  had  been  made  con- 
sul four  times,  and  his  compeers  acknowledged  him  as  their 
chief,  and  all  men  submitted  to  him  as  to  a  king.  But  now  the 
two  consuls  were  jealous  of  each  other;  nor  had  they  power  of 
life  and  death  within  the  city,  for  Valerius  (as  we  saw)  had 
taken  away  the  axes  from  the  fasces.  Now  this  was  one  of  the 
reasons  why  Brutus  and  the  rest  made  two  consuls  instead  of 
one  king :  for  they  said  that  neither  one  would  allow  the  other 
to  become  tyrant ;  and  since  they  only  held  office  for  one  year 
at  a  time,  they  might  be  called  on  to  give  account  of  their  gov- 
ernment when  their  year  was  at  an  end. 

Yet  though  this  was  a  safeguard  of  liberty  in  times  of  peace, 
it  was  hurtful  in  time  of  war,  for  the  consuls  chosen  by  the 
people  in  their  great  assemblies  were  not  always  skilful  gen- 
erals ;  or  if  they  were  so,  they  were  obliged  to  lay  down  their 
command  at  the  year's  end. 

So  the  senate  determined,  in  cases  of  great  danger,  to  call 
upon  one  of  the  consuls  to  appoint  a  single  chief,  who  should  be 
called  "  dictator,"  or  master  of  the  people.  He  had  sovereign 
power  (Imperiuni)  both  in  the  city  and  out  of  the  city,  and  the 
fasces  were  always  carried  before  him  with  the  axes  in  them, 
as  they  had  been  before  the  king.  He  could  only  be  appointed 
for  six  months,  but  at  the  end  of  the  time  he  had  to  give  no 
account  So  that  he  was  free  to  act  according  to  his  own  judg- 
ment, having  no  colleague  to  interfere  with  him  at  the  present, 
and  no  accusations  to  fear  at  a  future  time.  The  dictator  was 
general-in-chief,  and  he  appointed  a  chief  officer  to  command 
the  knights  under  him,  who  was  called  "  master  of  the  horse." 
And  now  it  appeared  to  be  a  fit  time  to  appoint  such  a  chief, 
to  take  the  command  of  the  army  against  the  Latins.  So  the 
first  dictator  was  T.  Lartius,  and  he  made  Spurius  Cassius  his 


312     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 

master  of  the  horse.  This  was  in  the  year  B.C.  499,  eight  years 
after  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin, 

But  the  Latins  did  not  declare  war  for  two  years  after. 
Then  the  senate  again  ordered  the  consul  to  name  a  master  of 
the  people,  or  dictator;  and  he  named  Aul.  Postumius,  who 
appointed  T.  ^Ebutius(one  of  the  consuls  of  that  year)  to  be 
his  master  of  the  horse.  So  they  led  out  the  Roman  army 
against  the  Latins,  and  they  met  at  the  Lake  Regillus,  in  the 
land  of  the  Tusculans.  King  Tarquin  and  all  his  family  were  in 
the  host  of  the  Latins ;  and  that  day  it  was  to  be  determined 
whether  Rome  should  be  again  subject  to  the  tyrant  and 
whether  or  not  she  was  to  be  chief  of  the  Latin  cities. 

King  Tarquin  himself,  old  as  he  was,  rode  in  front  of  the 
Latins  in  full  armor ;  and  when  he  descried  the  Roman  dictator 
marshalling  his  men,  he  rode  at  him ;  but  Postumius  wounded 
him  in  the  side,  and  he  was  rescued  by  the  Latins.  Then  also 
^Ebutius,  the  master  of  the  horse,  and  Oct.  Mamilius,  the  dic- 
tator of  the  Latins,  charged  one  another,  and  ^Ebutius  was 
pierced  through  the  arm,  and  Mamilius  wounded  in  the  breast. 
But  the  Latin  chief,  nothing  daunted,  returned  to  battle,  fol- 
lowed by  Titus,  the  king's  son,  with  his  band  of  exiles.  These, 
charged  the  Romans  furiously,  so  that  they  gave  way;  but 
when  M.  Valerius,  brother  of  the  great  Poplicola,  saw  this,  L« 
spurred  his  horse  against  Titus,  and  rode  at  him  with  spear  n« 
rest ;  and  when  Titus  turned  away  and  fled,  Valerius  rode  furl 
ously  after  him  into  the  midst  of  the  Latin  host,  and  a  certain 
Latin  smote  him  in  the  side  as  he  was  riding  past,  so  that  he 
fell  dead,  and  his  horse  galloped  on  without  a  rider.  So  the 
band  of  exiles  pressed  still  more  fiercely  upon  the  Romans, 
and  they  began  to  flee. 

Then  Postumius  the  dictator  lifted  up  his  voice  and  vowed  a 
temple  to  Cantor  and  Pollux,  the  great  twin  heroes  of  the 
Greeks,  if  they  would  aid  him ;  and  behold  there  appeared  on 
his  right  two  horsemen,  taller  and  fairer  than  the  sons  of 
men,  and  their  horses  were  as  white  as  snow.  And  they  led 
the  dictator  and  his  guard  against  the  exiles  and  the  Latins, 
and  the  Romans  prevailed  against  them;  and  T.  Herminius 
the  Titian,  the  friend  of  Horatius  Codes,  ran  Mamilius,  the  dic- 
tator of  the  Latins,  through  the  body,  so  that  he  died;  but 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     313 

when  he  was  stripping  the  arms  from  his  foe,  another  ran  him 
through,  and  he  was  carried  back  to  the  camp,  and  he  also  died. 
Then  also  Titus,  the  king's  son,  was  slain,  and  the  Latins  fled, 
and  the  Romans  pursued  them  with  great  slaughter,  and  took 
their  camp  and  all  that  was  in  it.  Now  Postumius  had  prom- 
ised  great  rewards  to  those  who  first  broke  into  the  camp  of 
the  Latins,  and  the  first  who  broke  in  were  the  two  horsemen 
on  white  horses ;  but  after  the  battle  they  were  nowhere  to  be 
seen  or  found,  nor  was  there  any  sign  of  them  left,  save  on  the 
hard  rock  there  was  the  mark  of  a  horse's  hoof,  which  men 
said  was  made  by  the  horse  of  one  of  those  horsemen. 

But  at  this  very  time  two  youths  on  white  horses  rode  into 
the  Forum  at  Rome.  They  were  covered  with  dust  and  sweat 
and  blood,  like  men  who  had  fought  long  and  hard,  and  their 
horses  also  were  bathed  in  sweat  and  foam :  and  they  alighted 
near  the  Temple  of  Vesta,  and  washed  themselves  in  a  spring 
that  gushes  out  hard  by,  and  told  all  the  people  in  the  Forum 
how  the  battle  by  the  Lake  Regillus  had  been  fought  and  won. 
Then  they  mounted  their  horses  and  rode  away,  and  were  seen 
no  more. 

But  Postumius,  when  he  heard  it,  knew  that  these  were 
Castor  and  Pollux,  the  great  twin  brethren  of  the  Greeks,  and 
that  it  was  they  who  fought  so  well  for  Rome  at  the  Lake 
Regillus.  So  he  built  them  a  temple,  according  to  his  vow, 
over  the  place  where  they  had  alighted  in  the  Forum.  And 
their  effigies  were  displayed  on  Roman  coins  to  the  latest  ages 
of  the  city. 

This  was  the  fourth  and  last  attempt  to  restore  King  Tar- 
quin.  After  the  great  defeat  of  Lake  R.egillus,  the  Latin  cities 
made  peace  with  Rome,  and  agreed  to  refuse  harborage  to  the 
old  king.  He  had  lost  all  his  sons,  and,  accompanied  by  a  few 
faithful  friends,  who  shared  his  exile,  he  sought  a  last  asylum 
at  the  Greek  city  of  Cumse  in  the  Bay  of  Naples,  at  the  court 
of  the  tyrant  Aristodemus.  Here  he  died  in  the  course  of  a 
year,  fourteen  years  after  his  expulsion. 

We  shall  now  record,  not  only  the  slow  steps  by  which  the 
Romans  recovered  dominion  over  their  neighbors,  but  also  the 
long-continued  struggle  by  which  the  plebeians  raised  them- 
selves to  a  level  with  the  patricians,  who  had  again  become  the 


3U     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A   REPUBLIC 

dominant  caste  at  Rome.  Mixed  up  with  legendary  tales  as 
the  history  still  is,  enough  is  nevertheless  preserved  to  excite 
the  admiration  of  all  who  love  to  look  upon  a  brave  people 
pursuing  a  worthy  object  with  patient  but  earnest  resolution, 
never  flinching,  yet  seldom  injuring  their  good  cause  by  reck 
le;>s  violence.  To  an  Englishman  this  history  ought  to  be 
especially  dear,  for  more  than  any  other  in  the  annals  of  the 
world  does  it  resemble  the  long-enduring  constancy  and  sturdy 
determination,  the  temperate  will  and  noble  self-control,  with 
which  the  Commons  of  his  own  country  secured  their  rights. 
It  was  by  a  struggle  of  this  nature,  pursued  through  a  century 
and  a  half,  that  the  character  of  the  Roman  people  was  molded 
into  that  form  of  strength  and  energy,  which  threw  back  Han- 
nibal to  the  coasts  of  Africa,  and  in  half  a  century  more  made 
them  masters  of  the  Mediterranean  shore 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  wars  that  followed  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Tarquins,  with  the  loss  of  territory  that  accom- 
panied them,  must  have  reduced  all  orders  of  men  at  Rome  to 
great  distress,  But  those  who  most  suffered  were  the  plebe- 
ians. The  plebeians  at  that  time  consisted  entirely  of  landhold- 
ers, great  and  small,  and  husbandmen,  for  in  those  times  the 
practice  of  trades  and  mechanical  arts  was  considered  unworthy 
of  a  freeborn  man  Some  of  the  plebeian  familes  were  as 
wealthy  as  any  among  the  patricians;  but  the  mass  of  them 
were  petty  yeoman,  who  lived  on  the  produce  of  their  small 
farm,  and  were  solely  dependent  for  a  living  on  their  own  limbs, 
their  own  thrift  and  industry  Most  of  them  lived  in  the  vil- 
lages and  small  towns,  which  in  those  times  were  thickly  sprin- 
kled over  the  slopes  of  the  Campagna. 

The  patricians,  on  the  other  hand,  resided  chiefly  within  the 
city.  If  slaves  were  few  as  yet,  they  had  the  labor  of  their 
clients  available  to  till  their  farms ;  and  through  their  clients 
also  they  were  enabled  to  derive  a  profit  from  the  practice  of 
trading  and  crafts,  which  personally  neither  they  nor  the  ple- 
beians would  stoop  to  pursue.  Besides  these  sources  of  profit, 
they  had  at  this  time  the  exclusive  use  of  the  public  land,  a 
subject  on  which  we  shall  have  to  speak  more  at  length  here- 
after. At  present,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  say,  that  the  public 
land  now  spoken  of  had  been  the  crown  land  or  regal  domain, 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     315 

which  on  the  expulsion  of  the  kings  had  been  forfeited  to  the 
state  The  patricians  being  in  possession  of  all  actual  power, 
engrossed  possession  of  it,  and  seem  to  have  paid  a  very  small 
quit-rent  to  the  treasury  for  this  great  advantage. 

Besides  this,  the  necessity  of  service  in  the  army,  or  militia 
—as  it  might  more  justly  be  called— acted  very  differently  on 
the  rich  landholder  and  the  small  yeoman.  The  latter,  being 
called  out  with  sword  and  spear  for  the  summer's  campaign,  as 
his  turn  came  round,  was  obliged  to  leave  his  farm  uncared  for, 
and  his  crop  could  only  be  reaped  by  the  kind  aid  of  neighbors ; 
whereas  the  rich  proprietor,  by  his  clients  or  his  hired  laborers, 
could  render  the  required  military  service  without  robbing  his 
land  of  his  own  labor.  Moreover,  the  territory  of  Rome  was  so 
narrow,  and  the  enemy's  borders  so  close  at  hand,  that  any  night 
the  stout  yeoman  might  find  himself  reduced  to  beggary,  by 
seeing  his  crops  destroyed,  his  cattle  driven  away,  and  his 
homestead  burnt  in  a  sudden  foray.  The  patricians  and  rich 
plebeians  were,  it  is  true,  exposed  to  the  same  contingencies. 
But  wealth  will  always  provide  some  defence ;  and  it  is  reason- 
able to  think  that  the  larger  proprietors  provided  places  of 
refuge,  into  which  they  could  drive  their  cattle  and  secure 
much  of  their  property,  such  as  the  peel-towers  common  in  our 
own  border  counties.  Thus  the  patricians  and  their  clients 
might  escape  the  storm  which  destroyed  the  isolated  yeoman. 

To  this  must  be  added  that  the  public  land  seems  to  have 
been  mostly  in  pasturage,  and  therefore  the  property  of  the 
patricians  must  have  chiefly  consisted  in  cattle,  which  was  more 
easily  saved  from  depredation  than  the  crops  of  the  plebeian. 
Lastly,  the  profit  derived  from  the  trades  and  business  of  their 
clients,  being  secured  by  the  walls  of  the  city,  gave  to  the  pa- 
tricians the  command  of  all  the  capital  that  could  exist  in  a 
state  of  society  so  simple  and  crude,  and  afforded  at  once 
a  means  of  repairing  their  own  losses,  and  also  of  obtaining  a 
dominion  over  the  poor  yeoman. 

For  some  time  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Tarquins  it  was 
necessary  for  the  patricians  to  treat  the  plebeians  with  liber- 
ality. The  institutions  of  "  the  Commons'  King,"  King  Ser- 
vius,  suspended  by  Tarquin,  were,  partially  at  least,  restored : 
it  is  said  even  that  one  of  the  first  consuls  was  a  plebeian,  and 


316     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A   REPUBLIC 

that  he  chose  several  of  the  leading  plebeians  into  the  senate. 
But  after  the  death  of  Porsenna,  and  when  the  fear  of  the  Tar- 
quins  ceased,  all  these  flattering  signs  disappeared.  The  con- 
suls seem  still  to  have  been  elected  by  the  Centuriate  Assembly, 
but  the  Curiate  Assembly  retained  in  their  own  hands  the  right 
of  conferring  the  Imperium,  which  amounted  to  a  positive  veto 
on  the  election  by  the  larger  body.  All  the  names  of  the  early 
consuls,  except  in  the  first  year  of  the  Republic,  are  patrician. 
But  if  by  chance  a  consul  displayed  popular  tendencies,  it  was 
in  the  power  of  the  senate  and  patricians  to  suspend  his  power 
by  the  appointment  of  a  dictator.  Thus,  practically,  the  patri- 
cian burgesses  again  became  the  Populus,  or  body  politic  of 
Rome. 

It  must  not  here  be  forgotten  that  this  dominant  body  was 
an  exclusive  caste ;  that  is,  it  consisted  of  a  limited  number  of 
noble  families,  who  allowed  none  of  their  members  to  marry  with 
persons  born  out  of  the  pale  of  their  own  order.  The  child  of 
a  patrician  and  a  plebeian,  or  of  a  patrician  and  a  client,  was 
not  considered  as  born  in  lawful  wedlock ;  and  however  proud 
the  blood  which  it  derived  from  one  parent,  the  child  sank  to 
the  condition  of  the  parent  of  lower  rank.  This  was  expressed 
in  Roman  language  by  saying,  that  there  was  no  "  Right  of  Con- 
nubium  "  between  patricians  and  any  inferior  classes  of  men. 
Nothing  can  be  more  impolitic  than  such  restrictions;  nothing 
more  hurtful  even  to  those  who  count  it  their  privilege.  In  all 
exclusive  or  oligarchical/^/^,  families  become  extinct,  and  the 
breed  decays  both  in  bodily  strength  and  mental  vigor.  Hap- 
pily for  Rome,  the  patricians  were  unable  long  to  maintain 
themselves  as  a  separate  caste. 

Yet  the  plebeians  might  long  have  submitted  to  this  state  of 
social  and  political  inferiority,  had  not  their  personal  distress 
and  the  severe  laws  of  Rome  driven  them  to  seek  relief  by 
claiming  to  be  recognized  as  members  of  the  body  politic. 

The  severe  laws  of  which  we  speak  were  those  of  debtor  and 
creditor.  If  a  Roman  borrowed  money,  he  was  expected  to 
enter  into  a  contract  with  his  creditor  to  pay  the  debt  by  a  cer- 
tain day ;  and  if  on  that  day  he  was  unable  to  discharge  his 
obligation,  he  was  summoned  before  the  patrician  judge,  who 
was  authorized  by  the  law  to  assign  the  defaulter  as  a  bonds- 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     317 

man  to  his  creditor— that  is,  the  debtor  was  obliged  to  pay  by 
his  ^own  labor  the  debt  which  he  was  unable  to  pay  in  money. 
Or  if  a  man  incurred  a  debt  without  such  formal  contract,  the 
rule  was  still  more  imperious,  for  in  that  case  the  law  itself 
fixed  the  day  of  payment;  and  if  after  a  lapse  of  thirty  days 
from  that  date  the  debt  was  not  discharged,  the  creditor  was 
empowered  to  arrest  the  person  of  his  debtor,  to  load  him  with 
chains,  and  feed  him  on  bread  and  water  for  another  thirty  days ; 
and  then,  if  the  money  still  remained  unpaid,  he  might  put  him 
to  death,  or  sell  him  as  a  slave  to  the  highest  bidder;  or,  if 
there  were  several  creditors,  they  might  hew  his  body  in  pieces 
and  divide  it.  And  in  this  last  case  the  law  provided  with 
scrupulous  providence  against  the  evasion  by  which  the  Mer- 
chant of  Venice  escaped  the  cruelty  of  the  Jew;  for  the  Roman 
law  said  that  "  whether  a  man  cut  more  or  less  [than  his  due], 
he  should  incur  no  penalty."  These  atrocious  provisions,  how- 
ever, defeated  their  own  object,  for  there  was  no  more  un- 
profitable way  in  which  the  body  of  a  debtor  could  be  disposed 
of. 

Such  being  the  law  of  debtor  and  creditor,  it  remains  to  say 
that  the  creditors  were  chiefly  of  the  patrician  caste,  and  the 
debtors  almost  exclusively  of  the  poorer  sort  among  the  ple- 
beians. The  patricians  were  the  creditors,  because  from  their 
occupancy  of  the  public  land,  and  from  their  engrossing  the 
profits  to  be  derived  from  trade  and  crafts,  they  alone  had 
spare  capital  to  lend.  The  plebeian  yeomen  were  the  debtors, 
because  their  independent  position  made  them,  at  that  time, 
helpless.  Vassals,  clients,  serfs,  or  by  whatever  name  depend- 
ents are  called,  do  not  suffer  from  the  ravages  of  a  predatory 
war  like  free  landholders,  because  the  loss  falls  on  their  lords 
or  patrons.  But  when  the  independent  yeoman's  crops  are 
destroyed,  his  cattle  "  lifted,"  and  his  homestead  in  ashes,  he 
must  himself  repair  the  loss.  This  was,  as  we  have  said,  the 
condition  of  many  Roman  plebeians.  To  rebuild  their  houses 
and  restock  their  farms  they  borrowed;  the  patricians  were 
their  creditors;  and  the  law,  instead  of  protecting  the  small 
holders,  like  the  law  of  the  Hebrews,  delivered  them  over  into 
serfdom  or  slavery. 

Thus  the  free  plebeian  population  might  have  been  reduced 


318     ROME   ESTABLISHED   AS   A   REPUBLIC 

to  a  state  of  mere  dependency,  and  the  history  of  Rome  might 
have  presented  a  repetition  of  monotonous  severity,  like  that 
of  Sparta  or  of  Venice.1  But  it  was  ordained  otherwise.  The 
distress  and  oppression  of  the  plebeians  led  them  to  demand 
and  to  obtain  political  protectors,  by  whose  means  they  were 
slowly  but  surely  raised  to  equality  of  rights  and  privileges  with 
their  rulers  and  oppressors.  These  protectors  were  the  famous 
Tribunes  of  the  Plebs.  We  will  now  repeat  the  no  less  famous 
legends  by  which  their  first  creation  was  accounted  for. 

It  was,  by  the  common  reckoning,  fifteen  years  after  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  Tarquins  (B.C.  494),  that  the  plebeians  were 
roused  to  take  the  first  step  in  the  assertion  of  their  rights. 
After  the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus,  the  plebeians  had  reason  to 
expect  some  relaxation  of  the  law  of  debt,  in  consideration  of 
the  great  services  they  had  rendered  in  the  war.  But  none 
was  granted.  The  patrician  creditors  began  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  severity  of  the  law  against  their  plebeian  debtors.  The 
discontent  that  followed  was  great,  and  the  consuls  prepared 
to  meet  the  storm.  These  were  Appius  Claudius,  the  proud 
Sabine  nobleman  who  had  lately  become  a  Roman,  and  who 
now  led  the  high  patrician  party  with  all  the  unbending  energy 
of  a  chieftain  whose  will  had  never  been  disputed  by  his  obedi- 
ent clansmen;  and  P.  Servilius,  who  represented  the  milder 
and  more  liberal  party  of  the  Fathers. 

It  chanced  that  an  aged  man  rushed  into  the  Forum  on  a 
market-day,  loaded  with  chains,  clothed  with  a  few  scanty  rags, 
his  hair  and  beard  long  and  squalid;  his  whole  appearance 
ghastly,  as  of  one  oppressed  by  long  want  of  food  and  air.  He 
was  recognized  as  a  brave  soldier,  the  old  comrade  of  many 
who  thronged  the  Forum.  He  told  his  story,  how  that  in  the 
late  wars  the  enemy  had  burned  his  house  and  plundered  his 
little  farm ;  that  to  replace  his  losses  he  had  borrowed  money 
of  a  patrician,  that  his  cruel  creditor  (in  default  of  payment) 
had  thrown  him  into  prison,8  and  tormented  him  with  chains  and 
scourges.  At  this  sad  tale,  the  passions  of  the  people  rose  high. 

1  A  well-known  German  historian  calls  the  Spartans  by  the  name  of 
"stunted  Romans."    There  is  much  resemblance  to  be  traced. 

2  Such  prisons  were  called  ergastula,  and  afterward  became  the  places 
for  keeping  slaves  in 


ROME   ESTABLISHED  AS  A   REPUBLIC     310 

Appius  was  obliged  to  conceal  himself,  while  Servilius  under 
took  to  plead  the  cause  of  the  plebeians  with  the  senate. 

Meantime  news  came  to  the  city  that  the  Roman  territory 
was  invaded  by  the  Volscian  foe.  The  consuls  proclaimed  a 
levy ;  but  the  stout  yeomen,  one  and  all,  refused  to  give  in  their 
names  and  take  the  military  oath.  Servilius  now  came  forward 
and  proclaimed  by  edict  that  no  citizen  should  be  imprisoned 
for  debt  so  long  as  the  war  lasted,  and  that  at  the  close  of  the 
war  he  would  propose  an  alteration  of  the  law.  The  plebeians 
trusted  him,  and  the  enemy  was  driven  back.  But  when  the 
popular  consul  returned  with  his  victorious  soldiers,  he  was  de- 
nied a  triumph,  and  the  senate,  led  by  Appius,  refused  to  make 
any  concession  in  favor  of  the  debtors. 

The  anger  of  the  plebeians  rose  higher  and  higher,  when 
again  news  came  that  the  enemy  was  ravaging  the  lands  of 
Rome.  The  senate,  well  knowing  that  the  power  of  the  con- 
suls would  avail  nothing,  since  Appius  was  regarded  as  a  ty- 
rant, and  Servilius  would  not  choose  again  to  become  an  instru- 
ment for  deceiving  the  people,  appointed  a  dictator  to  lead  the 
citizens  into  the  field.  But  to  make  the  act  as  popular  as  might 
be,  they  named  M.  Valerius,  a  descendant  of  the  great  Popli- 
cola.  The  same  scene  was  repeated  over  again.  Valerius  pro- 
tected the  plebeians  against  their  creditors  while  they  were  at 
war,  and  promised  them  relief  when  war  was  over.  But  when 
the  danger  was  gone  by,  Appius  again  prevailed ;  the  senate 
refused  to  listen  to  Valerius,  and  the  dictator  laid  down  his 
office,  calling  gods  and  men  to  witness  that  he  was  not  respon- 
sible for  his  breach  of  faith. 

The  plebeians  whom  Valerius  had  led  forth  were  still  under 
arms,  still  bound  by  their  military  oath,  and  Appius,  with  the 
violent  patricians,  refused  to  disband  them.  The  army,  there- 
fore, having  lost  Valerius,  their  proper  general  chose  two  of 
themselves,  L.  Junius  Brutus  and  L.  Sicinius  Bellutus  by 
name,  and  under  their  command  they  marched  northward  and 
occupied  the  hill  which  commands  the  junction  of  the  Tiber 
and  the  Anio.  Here,  at  a  distance  of  about  two  miles  from 
Rome,  they  determined  to  settle  and  form  a  new  city,  leaving 
Rome  to  the  patricians  and  their  clients.  But  the  latter  were 
not  willing  to  lose  the  best  of  their  soldiery,  the  cultivators  of 


320     ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC 

the  greater  part  of  the  Roman  territory,  and  they  sent  repeated 
embassies  to  persuade  the  seceders  to  return.  They,  however, 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  all  promises,  for  they  had  too  often  been 
deceived.  Appius  now  urged  the  senate  and  patricians  to  leave 
the  plebeians  to  themselves.  The  nobles  and  their  clients,  he 
said,  could  well  maintain  themselves  in  the  city  without  such 
base  aid. 

But  wiser  sentiments  prevailed.  T.  Lartius,  and  M.Valerius, 
both  of  whom  had  been  dictators,  with  Menenius  Agrippa,  an 
old  patrician  of  popular  character,  were  empowered  to  treat 
with  the  people.  Still  their  leaders  were  unwilling  to  listen, 
till  old  Menenius  addressed  them  in  the  famous  fable  of  the 
"  Belly  and  the  Members  " : 

"  In  times  of  old,"  said  he,  "  when  every  member  of  the  body 
could  think  for  itself,  and  each  had  a  separate  will  of  its  own, 
they  all,  with  one  consent,  resolved  to  revolt  against  the  belly. 
They  knew  no  reason,  they  said,  why  they  should  toil  from 
morning  till  night  in  its  service,  while  the  belly  lay  at  its  ease 
in  the  midst  of  all,  and  indolently  grew  fat  upon  their  labors. 
Accordingly  they  agreed  to  support  it  no  more.  The  feet 
vowed  they  would  carry  it  no  longer;  the  hands  that  they 
would  do  no  more  work ;  the  teeth  that  they  would  not  chew  a 
morsel  of  meat,  even  were  it  placed  between  them.  Thus  re- 
solved, the  members  for  a  time  showed  their  spirit  and  kept 
their  resolution ;  but  soon  they  found  that  instead  of  mortify- 
ing the  belly  they  only  undid  themselves :  they  languished  for 
a  while,  and  perceived  too  late  that  it  was  owing  to  the  belly 
that  they  had  strength  to  work  and  courage  to  mutiny." 

The  moral  of  this  fable  was  plain.  The  people  readily  applied 
it  to  the  patricians  and  themselves,  and  their  leaders  proposed 
terms  of  agreement  to  the  patrician  messengers.  They  re- 
quired that  the  debtors  who  could  not  pay  should  have  their 
debts  cancelled,  and  that  those  who  had  been  given  up  into 
slavery  should  be  restored  to  freedom.  This  for  the  past. 
And  as  a  security  for  the  future,  they  demanded  that  two  of 
themselves  should  be  appointed  for  the  sole  purpose  of  protect- 
ing the  plebeians  against  the  patrician  magistrates,  if  they  acted 
cruelly  or  unjustly  toward  the  debtors.  The  two  officers  thus  to 
be  appointed  were  called  "  Tribunes  of  the  Plebs."  Their  per- 


ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUBLIC     321 

sons  were  to  be  sacred  and  inviolable  during  their  year  of  office, 
whence  their  office  is  called  sacrosancta  Potestas.  They  were 
never  to  leave  the  city  during  that  time,  and  their  houses  were 
to  be  open  day  and  night,  that  all  who  needed  their  aid  might 
demand  it  without  delay. 

This  concession,  apparently  great,  was  much  modified  by  the 
fact  that  the  patricians  insisted  on  the  election  of  the  tribunes 
being  made  at  the  Comitia  of  the  Centuries,  in  which  they  them- 
selves and  their  wealthy  clients  could  usually  command  a  ma- 
jority. In  later  times,  the  number  of  the  tribunes  was  increased 
to  five,  and  afterward  to  ten.  They  were  elected  at  the  Comitia 
of  the  tribes.  They  had  the  privilege  of  attending  all  sittings 
of  the  senate,  though  they  were  not  considered  members  of 
that  famous  body.  Above  all,  they  acquired  the  great  and  per- 
ilous power  of  the  veto,  by  which  any  one  of  their  number 
might  stop  any  law,  or  annul  any  decree  of  the  senate  without 
cause  or  reason  assigned.  This  right  of  veto  was  called  the 
"  Right  of  Intercession." 

On  the  spot  where  this  treaty  was  made,  an  altar  was  built 
to  Jupiter,  the  causer  and  banisher  of  fear,  for  the  plebeians 
had  gone  thither  in  fear  and  returned  from  it  in  safety.  The 
place  was  called  Mons  Sacer,  or  the  Sacred  Hill,  forever  after, 
and  the  laws  by  which  the  sanctity  of  the  tribunitian  office  was 
secured  were  called  the  Leges  Sacratce. 

The  tribunes  were  not  properly  magistrates  or  officers,  for 
they  had  no  express  functions  or  official  duties  to  discharge. 
They  were  simply  representatives  and  protectors  of  the  plebs. 
At  the  same  time,  however,  with  the  institution  of  these  pro- 
tective officers,  the  plebeians  were  allowed  the  right  of  having 
two  aediles  chosen  from  their  own  body,  whose  business  it  was 
to  preserve  order  and  decency  in  the  streets,  to  provide  for  the 
repair  of  all  buildings  and  roads  there,  with  other  functions 
partly  belonging  to  police  officers,  and  partly  to  commissioners 

of  public  works. 

E.,  VOL.  I.— at 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

B.C.  490 

SIR  EDWARD  SHEPHERD  CREASY 

Marathon  I  A  name  to  conjure  up  such  visions  of  glory  as  few  battle- 
fields have  ever  shown.  Heroism  and  determination  on  the  part  of  the 
Athenians,  supported  by  the  small  but  ever  noble  band  of  Platasans  who 
came  to  their  aid  ;  who  can  read  the  repulse  of  the  Persians  on  this  ever 
memorable  plain  without  experiencing  a  thrill  of  admiration  and  delight 
at  the  achievement?  The  whole  world  since  that  battle  has  looked  upon 
it  as  a  victory  of  the  under  dog.  Many  of  the  great  engagements  of 
modern  times  have  been  likened  unto  it.  For  long  it  has  been  the  syno- 
nym of  brave  despair;  the  conquering  of  an  enemy  many  times  superior 
in  numbers  to  its  opponent 

This  attempt  of  the  Persians  on  the  Greeks  was  not  the  first  against 
them.  That  took  place  B.C.  493  under  Mardonius.  This  commander 
had  reduced  Ionia,  dethroned  the  despots,  and  established  democracy 
throughout  the  land.  After  this  he  turned  his  attention  to  Eretria  and 
Athens,  taking  his  army  across  the  straits  in  vessels.  But  the  ships  of 
war  and  transports  were  wrecked  by  a  mighty  headwind  as  they  rounded 
Mount  Athos.  Many  were  driven  ashore,  about  three  hundred  of  them 
were  totally  lost,  and  some  twenty  thousand  men  perished  in  the  catas- 
trophe. 

All  the  trouble  between  the  Persians  and  Greeks  arose  over  the  cap- 
ture of  Sardis  by  the  lonians,  B.C.  500.  The  city  was  burned,  and  then 
the  lonians  retreated.  It  was  to  avenge  this  that  Persia  determined  on 
a  punitive  expedition  against  the  Greeks.  The  lonians  and  Milesian 
men  were  mostly  slain  by  the  Persians,  the  women  and  children  led  into 
captivity,  and  the  temples  in  the  cities  burned  and  razed  to  the  ground.1 

In  the  battle  of  Marathon,  which  succeeded  these  events,  we  have  a 
vivid  picture  presented  to  us  in  Creasy's  glowing  words  : 


thousand  three  hundred  and  forty  years  ago  a  council 
of  Athenian  officers  was  summoned  on  the  slope  of  one 
of  the  mountains  that  look  over  the  plain  of  Marathon,  on  the 
eastern  coast  of  Attica.  The  immediate  subject  of  their  meet- 

1  The  year  following  the  fall  of  the  Ionic  city  of  Miletus  the  poet 
Phrynichus  made  it  the  subject  of  a  tragedy.  On  bringing  it  on  the  stage 
he  was  fined  one  thousand  drachmae  for  having  recalled  to  them  their 
own  misfortunes.  —  SMITH. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  323 

ing  was  to  consider  whether  they  should  give  battle  to  an 
enemy  that  lay  encamped  on  the  shore  beneath  them;  but  on 
the  result  of  their  deliberations  depended,  not  merely  the  fate 
of  two  armies,  but  the  whole  future  progress  of  human  civiliza- 
tion. 

There  were  eleven  members  of  that  council  of  war.  Ten 
were  the  generals  who  were  then  annually  elected  at  Athens, 
one  for  each  of  the  local  tribes  into  which  the  Athenians  were 
divided.  Each  general  led  the  men  of  his  own  tribe,  and  each 
was  invested  with  equal  military  authority.  But  one  of  the 
archons  was  also  associated  with  them  in  the  general  command 
of  the  army.  This  magistrate  was  termed  the  "  Polemarch"  or 
War-ruler.  He  had  the  privilege  of  leading  the  right  wing  of 
the  army  in  battle,  and  his  vote  in  a  council  of  war  was  equal 
to  that  of  any  of  the  generals.  A  noble  Athenian  named  Cal- 
limachus  was  the  war-ruler  of  this  year,  and,  as  such,  stood 
listening  to  the  earnest  discussion  of  the  ten  generals.  They 
had,  indeed,  deep  matter  for  anxiety,  though  little  aware  how 
momentous  to  mankind  were  the  votes  they  were  about  to  give, 
or  how  the  generations  to  come  would  read  with  interest  the 
record  of  their  discussions.  They  saw  before  them  the  invad- 
ing forces  of  a  mighty  empire,  which  had  in  the  last  fifty  years 
shattered  and  enslaved  nearly  all  the  kingdoms  and  principal 
cities  of  the  then  known  world.  They  knew  that  all  the  re- 
sources of  their  own  country  were  comprised  in  the  little  army 
intrusted  to  their  guidance.  They  saw  before  them  a  chosen 
host  of  the  great  king,  sent  to  wreak  his  special  wrath  on  that 
country  and  on  the  other  insolent  little  Greek  community  which 
had  dared  to  aid  his  rebels  and  burn  the  capital  of  one  of  his 
provinces.  That  victorious  host  had  already  fulfilled  half  its 
mission  of  vengeance. 

Eretria,  the  confederate  of  Athens  in  the  bold  march  against 
Sardis  nine  years  before,  had  fallen  in  the  last  few  days ;  and 
the  Athenian  generals  could  discern  from  the  heights  the  island 
of  yEgilia,  in  which  the  Persians  had  deposited  their  Eretrian 
prisoners,  whom  they  had  reserved  to  be  led  away  captives  into 
Upper  Asia,  there  to  hear  their  doom  from  the  lips  of  King 
Darius  himself.  Moreover,  the  men  of  Athens  knew  that  in 
the  camp  before  them  was  their  own  banished  tyrant,  who  was 


324  THE  BATTLE  OF   MARATHON 

seeking  to  be  reinstated  by  foreign  cimeters  in  despotic  sway 
over  any  remnant  of  his  countrymen  that  might  survive  the 
sack  of  their  town,  and  might  be  left  behind  as  too  worthless 
for  leading  away  into  Median  bondage. 

The  numerical  disparity  between  the  force  which  the  Athe- 
nian commanders  had  under  them,  and  that  which  they  were 
called  on  to  encounter,  was  hopelessly  apparent  to  some  of  the 
council.  The  historians  who  wrote  nearest  to  the  time  of 
the  battle  do  not  pretend  to  give  any  detailed  statements  of  the 
numbers  engaged,  but  there  are  sufficient  data  for  our  making 
a  general  estimate.  Every  free  Greek  was  trained  to  military 
duty ;  and,  from  the  incessant  border  wars  between  the  differ- 
ent states,  few  Greeks  reached  the  age  of  manhood  without 
having  seen  some  service.  But  the  muster-roll  of  free  Athe- 
nian citizens  of  an  age  fit  for  military  duty  never  exceeded 
thirty  thousand,  and  at  this  epoch  probably  did  not  amount  to 
two-thirds  of  that  number.  Moreover,  the  poorer  portion  of 
these  were  unprovided  with  the  equipments,  and  untrained  to 
the  operations  of  the  regular  infantry.  13ome  detachments  of 
the  best-armed  troops  would  be  required  to  garrison  the  city 
itself  and  man  the  various  fortified  posts  in  the  territory,  so 
that  it  is  impossible  to  reckon  the  fully  equipped  force  that 
marched  from  Athens  to  Marathon,  when  the  news  of  the  Per- 
sian landing  arrived,  at  higher  than  ten  thousand  men.1 

With  one  exception,  the  other  Greeks  held  back  from  aiding 
them.  Sparta  had  promised  assistance,  but  the  Persians  had 
landed  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  moon,  and  a  religious  scruple 
delayed  the  march  of  Spartan  troops  till  the  moon  should  have 
reached  its  full.  From  one  quarter  only,  and  that  from  a  most 
unexpected  one,  did  Athens  receive  aid  at  the  moment  of  her 
great  peril. 

Some  years  before  this  time  the  little  state  of  Plataea  in 
Boeotia,  being  hard  pressed  by  her  powerful  neighbor,  Thebes, 
had  asked  the  protection  of  Athens,  and  had  owed  to  an  Athe- 

1  The  historians,  who  lived  long  after  the  time  of  the  battle,  such  as 
Justin,  Plutarch,  and  others,  give  ten  thousand  as  the  number  of  the 
Athenian  army.  Not  much  reliance  could  be  placed  on  their  authority 
if  unsupported  by  other  evidence ;  but  a  calculation  made  for  the  number 
of  the  Athenian  free  population  remarkably  confirms  it. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  125 

nian  army  the  rescue  of  her  independence.  Now  when  it  was 
noised  over  Greece  that  the  Mede  had  come  from  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  to  destroy  Athens,  the  brave  Plataeans,  unso- 
licited, marched  with  their  whole  force  to  assist  the  defence, 
and  to  share  the  fortunes  of  their  benefactors. 

The  general  levy  of  the  Platasans  amounted  only  to  a  thou- 
sand men ;  and  this  little  column,  marching  from  their  city  along 
the  southern  ridge  of  Mount  Cithaeron,  and  thence  across  the 
Attic  territory,  joined  the  Athenian  forces  above  Marathon 
almost  immediately  before  the  battle.  The  reinforcement  was 
numerically  small,  but  the  gallant  spirit  of  the  men  who  com- 
posed it  must  have  made  it  of  tenfold  value  to  the  Athenians, 
and  its  presence  must  have  gone  far  to  dispel  the  cheerless 
feeling  of  being  deserted  and  friendless,  which  the  delay  of  the 
Spartan  succors  was  calculated  to  create  among  the  Athenian 
ranks.1 

This  generous  daring  of  their  weak  but  true-hearted  ally 
was  never  forgotten  at  Athens.  The  Plataeans  were  made  the 
civil  fellow-countrymen  of  the  Athenians,  except  the  right  of 
exercising  certain  political  functions ;  and  from  that  time  forth 
in  the  solemn  sacrifices  at  Athens,  the  public  prayers  were 
offered  up  for  a  joint  blessing  from  Heaven  upon  the  Athe- 
nians, and  the  Plataeans  also.. 

After  the  junction  of  the  column  from  Plataea,  the  Athenian 
commanders  must  have  had  under  them  about  eleven  thousand 
fully  armed  and  disciplined  infantry,  and  probably  a  large  num- 
ber of  irregular  light-armed  troops ;  as,  besides  the  poorer  citi- 
zens who  went  to  the  field  armed  with  javelins,  cutlasses,  and 
targets,  each  regular  heavy-armed  soldier  was  attended  in  the 

1  Mr.  Grote  observes  that "  this  volunteer  march  of  the  whole  Platasan 
force  to  Marathon  is  one  of  the  most  affecting  incidents  of  all  Grecian 
history."  In  truth,  the  whole  career  of  Platsa,  and  the  friendship, 
strong,  even  unto  death,  between  her  and  Athens  form  one  of  the  most  af- 
fecting episodes  in  the  history  of  antiquity.  In  the  Peloponnesian  war  the 
Platsans  again  were  true  to  the  Athenians  against  all  risks,  and  all  cal- 
culation of  self-interest:  and  the  destruction  of  Plataea  was  the  conse- 
quence. There  are  few  nobler  passages  in  the  classics  than  the  speech 
in  which  the  Platsean  prisoners  of  war,  after  the  memorable  siege  of 
their  city,  justify  before  their  Spartan  executioners  their  loyal  adherence 
to  Athens. 


320  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

camp  by  one  or  more  slaves,  who  were  armed  like  the  inferior 
freemen.  Cavalry  or  archers  the  Athenians  (on  this  occasion) 
had  none,  and  the  use  in  the  field  of  military  engines  was  not 
at  that  period  introduced  into  ancient  warfare. 

Contrasted  with  their  own  scanty  forces,  the  Greek  com- 
manders saw  stretched  before  them,  along  the  shores  of  the 
winding  bay,  the  tents  and  shipping  of  the  varied  nations  who 
marched  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  king  of  the  Eastern  world. 
The  difficulty  of  finding  transports  and  of  securing  provisions 
would  form  the  only  limit  to  the  numbers  of  a  Persian  army. 
Nor  is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  the  estimate  of  Justin  ex- 
aggerated, who  rates  at  a  hundred  thousand  the  force  which 
on  this  occasion  had  sailed,  under  the  satraps  Datis  and  Arta- 
phernes,  from  the  Cilician  shores  against  the  devoted  coasts  of 
Eubcea  and  Attica.  And  after  largely  deducting  from  this 
total,  so  as  to  allow  for  mere  mariners  and  camp  followers, 
there  must  still  have  remained  fearful  odds  against  the  national 
levies  of  the  Athenians. 

Nor  could  Greek  generals  then  feel  that  confidence  in  the 
superior  quality  of  their  troops,  which  ever  since  the  battle  of 
Marathon  has  animated  Europeans  in  conflicts  with  Asiatics, 
as,  for  instance,  in  the  after  struggles  between  Greece  and 
Persia,  or  when  the  Roman  legions  encountered  the  myriads 
of  Mithradates  and  Tigranes,  or  as  is  the  case  in  the  Indian 
campaigns  of  our  own  regiments.  On  the  contrary,  up  to  the 
day  of  Marathon  the  Medes  and  Persians  were  reputed  invin- 
cible. They  had  more  than  once  met  Greek  troops  in  Asia 
Minor,  in  Cyprus,  in  Egypt,  and  had  invariably  beaten  them. 

Nothing  can  be  stronger  than  the  expressions  used  by  the 
early  Greek  writers  respecting  the  terror  which  the  name  of 
the  Medes  inspired,  and  the  prostration  of  men's  spirits  before 
the  apparently  resistless  career  of  the  Persian  arms.  It  is, 
therefore,  little  to  be  wondered  at  that  five  of  the  ten  Athenian 
generals  shrank  from  the  prospect  of  fighting  a  pitched  battle 
against  an  enemy  so  superior  in  numbers  and  so  formidable  in 
military  renown.  Their  own  position  on  the  heights  was  strong 
and  offered  great  advantages  to  a  small  defending  force  against 
assailing  masses.  They  deemed  it  mere  foolhardiness  to  de- 
scend into  the  plain  to  be  trampled  down  by  the  Asiatic  horse, 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  327 

overwhelmed  with  the  archery,  or  cut  to  pieces  by  the  invinci- 
ble veterans  of  Cambyses  and  Cyrus. 

Moreover,  Sparta,  the  great  war  state  of  Greece,  had  been 
applied  to,  and  had  promised  succor  to  Athens,  though  the  re- 
ligious observance  which  the  Dorians  paid  to  certain  times  and 
seasons  had  for  the  present  delayed  their  march.  Was  it  not 
wise,  at  any  rate,  to  wait  till  the  Spartans  came  up,  and  to  have 
the  help  of  the  best  troops  in  Greece,  before  they  exposed 
themselves  to  the  shock  of  the  dreaded  Medes  ? 

Specious  as  these  reasons  might  appear,  the  other  five 
generals  were  for  speedier  and  bolder  operations.  And,  fortu- 
nately for  Athens  and  for  the  world,  one  of  them  was  a  man, 
not  only  of  the  highest  military  genius,  but  also  of  that  ener- 
getic character  which  impresses  its  own  type  and  ideas  upon 
spirits  feebler  in  conception. 

Miltiades  was  the  head  of  one  of  the  noblest  houses  at 
Athens.  He  ranked  the  ^Eacidae  among  his  ancestry,  and  the 
blood  of  Achilles  flowed  in  the  veins  of  the  hero  of  Marathon. 
One  of  his  immediate  ancestors  had  acquired  the  dominion  of 
the  Thracian  Chersonese,  and  thus  the  family  became  at  the 
same  time  Athenian  citizens  and  Thracian  princes.  This 
occurred  at  the  time  when  Pisistratus  was  tyrant  of  Athens. 
Two  of  the  relatives  of  Miltiades— an  uncle  of  the  same  name, 
and  a  brother  named  Stesagoras— had  ruled  the  Chersonese 
before  Miltiades  became  its  prince.  He  had  been  brought  up 
at  Athens  in  the  house  of  his  father,  Cimon,1  who  was  renowned 
throughout  Greece  for  his  victories  in  the  Olympic  chariot- 
races,  and  who  must  have  been  possessed  of  great  wealth. 

The  sons  of  Pisistratus,  who  succeeded  their  father  in  the 
tyranny  at  Athens,  caused  Cimon  to  be  assassinated ;  but  they 
treated  the  young  Miltiades  with  favor  and  kindness  and  When 
his  brother  Stesagoras  died  in  the  Chersonese,  they  sent  him 
out  there  as  lord  of  the  principality.  This  was  about  twenty- 
eight  years  before  the  battle  of  Marathon,  and  it  is  with  his 
arrival  in  the  Chersonese  that  our  first  knowledge  of  the  career 
and  character  of  Miltiades  commences.  We  find,  in  the  first 
act  recorded  of  him,  the  proof  of  the  same  resolute  and  unscru- 
pulous spirit  that  marked  his  mature  age.  His  brother's 

1  Herodotus 


328      THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

authority  in  the  principality  had  been  shaken  by  war  and  re- 
volt: Miltiades  determined  to  rule  more  securely.  On  his 
arrival  he  kept  close  within  his  house,  as  if  he  was  mourning 
for  his  brother.  The  principal  men  of  the  Chersonese,  hearing 
of  this,  assembled  from  all  the  towns  and  districts,  and  went 
together  to  the  house  of  Miltiades,  on  a  visit  of  condolence. 
As  soon  as  he  had  thus  got  them  in  his  power,  he  made  them 
all  prisoners.  He  then  asserted  and  maintained  his  own  abso- 
lute authority  in  the  peninsula,  taking  into  his  pay  a  body  of 
five  hundred  regular  troops,  and  strengthening  his  interest  by 
marrying  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  neighboring  Thra- 
cians. 

When  the  Persian  power  was  extended  to  the  Hellespont 
and  its  neighborhood,  Miltiades,  as  prince  of  the  Chersonese, 
submitted  to  King  Darius ;  and  he  was  one  of  the  numerous 
tributary  rulers  who  led  their  contingents  of  men  to  serve  in 
the  Persian  army,  in  the  expedition  against  Scythia.  Miltiades 
and  the  vassal  Greeks  of  Asia  Minor  were  left  by  the  Persian 
king  in  charge  of  the  bridge  across  the  Danube,  when  the  in- 
vading army  crossed  that  river,  and  plunged  into  the  wilds  of 
the  country  that  now  is  Russia,  in  vain  pursuit  of  the  ancestors 
of  the  modern  Cossacks.  On  learning  the  reverses  that  Darius 
met  with  in  the  Scythian  wilderness,  Miltiades  proposed  to  his 
companions  that  they  should  break  the  bridge  down  and  leave 
the  Persian  king  and  his  army  to  perish  by  famine  and  the 
Scythian  arrows.  The  rulers  of  the  Asiatic  Greek  cities, 
whom  Miltiades  addressed,  shrank  from  this  bold  but  ruthless 
stroke  against  the  Persian  power,  and  Darius  returned  in 
safety. 

But  it  was  known  what  advice  Miltiades  had  given,  and  the 
vengeance  of  Darius  was  thenceforth  specially  directed  against 
the  man  who  had  counselled  such  a  deadly  blow  against  his 
empire  and  his  person.  The  occupation  of  the  Persian  arms 
in  other  quarters  left  Miltiades  for  some  years  after  this  in 
possession  of  the  Chersonese ;  but  it  was  precarious  and  inter- 
rupted. He,  however,  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity  which 
his  position  gave  him  of  conciliating  the  good-will  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  at  Athens,  by  conquering  and  placing  under  the 
Athenian  authority  the  islands  of  Lemnos  and  Imbros,  to 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  329 

which  Athens  had  ancient  claims,  but  which  she  had  never 
previously  been  able  to  bring  into  complete  subjection. 

At  length,  in  B.C.  494,  the  complete  suppression  of  the 
Ionian  revolt  by  the  Persians  left  their  armies  and  fleets  at 
liberty  to  act  against  the  enemies  of  the  Great  King  to  the  west 
of  the  Hellespont.  A  strong  squadron  of  Phoenician  galleys 
was  sent  against  the  Chersonese.  Miltiades  knew  that  resist- 
ance was  hopeless,  and  while  the  Phoenicians  were  at  Tenedos, 
he  loaded  five  galleys  with  all  the  treasure  that  he  could  col- 
lect, and  sailed  away  for  Athens.  The  Phoenicians  fell  in  with 
him,  and  chased  him  hard  along  the  north  of  the  JEgean.  One 
of  his  galleys,  on  board  of  which  was  his  eldest  son  Metiochus, 
was  actually  captured.  But  Miltiades,  with  the  other  four, 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  friendly  coast  of  Imbros  in  safety. 
Thence  he  afterward  proceeded  to  Athens,  and  resumed  his 
station  as  a  free  citizen  of  the  Athenian  commonwealth. 

The  Athenians,  at  this  time,  had  recently  expelled  Hippias 
the  son  of  Pisistratus,  the  last  of  their  tyrants.  They  were  in 
the  full  glow  of  their  newly  recovered  liberty  and  equality ;  and 
the  constitutional  changes  of  Clisthenes  had  inflamed  their 
republican  zeal  to  the  utmost.  Miltiades  had  enemies  at 
Athens ;  and  these,  availing  themselves  of  the  state  of  popular 
feeling,  brought  him  to  trial  for  his  life  for  having  been  tyrant 
of  the  Chersonese.  The  charge  did  not  necessarily  import  any 
acts  of  cruelty  or  wrong  to  individuals :  it  was  founded  on  no 
specific  law ;  but  it  was  based  on  the  horror  with  which  the 
Greeks  of  that  age  regarded  every  man  who  made  himself  arbi- 
trary master  of  his  fellow-men,  and  exercised  irresponsible 
dominion  over  them. 

The  fact  of  Miltiades  having  so  ruled  in  the  Chersonese  was 
undeniable ;  but  the  question  which  the  Athenians  assembled 
in  judgment  must  have  tried,  was  whether  Miltiades,  although 
tyrant  of  the  Chersonese,  deserved  punishment  as  an  Athenian 
citizen.  The  eminent  service  that  he  had  done  the  state  in 
conquering  Lemnos  and  Imbros  for  it,  pleaded  strongly  in  his 
favor.  The  people  refused  to  convict  him.  He  stood  high  in 
public  opinion.  And  when  the  coming  invasion  of  the  Persians 
was  known,  the  people  wisely  elected  him  one  of  their  generals 
for  the  year. 


330  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

Two  other  men  of  high  eminence  in  history,  though  their 
renown  was  achieved  at  a  later  period  than  that  of  Miltiades, 
were  also  among  the  ten  Athenian  generals  at  Marathon.  One 
was  Themistocles,  the  future  founder  of  the  Athenian  navy, 
and  the  destined  victor  of  Salamis.  The  other  was  Aristides, 
who  afterward  led  the  Athenian  troops  at  Plataea,  and  whose 
integrity  and  just  popularity  acquired  for  his  country,  when  the 
Persians  had  finally  been  repulsed,  the  advantageous  preemi- 
nence of  being  acknowledged  by  half  of  the  Greeks  as  their 
imperial  leader  and  protector.  It  is  not  recorded  what  part 
either  Themistocles  or  Aristides  took  in  the  debate  of  the 
council  of  war  at  Marathon.  But,  from  the  character  of  The- 
mistocles, his  boldness,  and  his  intuitive  genius  for  extempor- 
izing the  best  measures  in  every  emergency — a  quality  which 
the  greatest  of  historians  ascribes  to  him  beyond  all  his  con- 
temporaries— we  may  well  believe  that  the  vote  of  Themistocles 
was  for  prompt  and  decisive  action.  On  the  vote  of  Aristides 
it  may  be  more  difficult  to  speculate.  His  predilection  for  the 
Spartans  may  have  made  him  wish  to  wait  till  they  came  up ; 
but,  though  circumspect,  he  was  neither  timid  as  a  soldier  nor 
as  a  politician,  and  the  bold  advice  of  Miltiades  may  probably 
have  found  in  Aristides  a  willing,  most  assuredly  it  found  in 
him  a  candid,  hearer. 

Miltiades  felt  no  hesitation  as  to  the  course  which  the  Athe- 
nian army  ought  to  pursue;  and  earnestly  did  he  press  his 
opinion  on  his  brother  generals.  Practically  acquainted  with 
the  organization  of  the  Persian  armies,  Miltiades  felt  convinced 
of  the  superiority  of  the  Greek  troops,  if  properly  handled ;  he 
saw  with  the  military  eye  of  a  great  general  the  advantage 
which  the  position  of  the  forces  gave  him  for  a  sudden  attack, 
and  as  a  profound  politician  he  felt  the  perils  of  remaining  in- 
active, and  of  giving  treachery  time  to  ruin  the  Athenian  cause. 

One  officer  in  the  council  of  war  had  not  yet  voted.  This 
was  Callimachus,  the  War-ruler.  The  votes  of  the  generals 
were  five  and  five,  so  that  the  voice  of  Callimachus  would  be 
decisive. 

On  that  vote,  in  all  human  probability,  the  destiny  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  world  depended.  Miltiades  turned  to  him, 
and  in  simple  soldierly  eloquence — the  substance  of  which  we 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  331 

may  read  faithfully  reported  in  Herodotus,  who  had  conversed 
with  the  veterans  of  Marathon— the  great  Athenian  thus  adjured 
his  countrymen  to  vote  for  giving  battle : 

"It  now  rests  with  you,  Callimachus,  either  to  enslave 
Athens,  or,  by  assuring  her  freedom,  to  win  yourself  an  immor- 
tality of  fame,  such  as  not  even  Harmodius  and  Aristogiton 
have  acquired ;  for  never,  since  the  Athenians  were  a  people, 
were  they  in  such  danger  as  they  are  in  at  this  moment.  If 
they  bow  the  knee  to  these  Medes,  they  are  to  be  given  up  to 
Hippias,  and  you  know  what  they  then  will  have  to  suffer. 
But  if  Athens  comes  victorious  out  of  this  contest,  she  has  it 
in  her  to  become  the  first  city  of  Greece.  Your  vote  is  to  de- 
cide whether  we  are  to  join  battle  or  not.  If  we  do  not  bring 
on  a  battle  presently,  some  factious  intrigue  will  disunite  the 
Athenians,  and  the  city  will  be  betrayed  to  the  Medes.  But  if 
we  fight,  before  there  is  anything  rotten  in  the  state  of  Athens, 
I  believe  that,  provided  the  gods  will  give  fair  play  and  no 
favor,  we  are  able  to  get  the  best  of  it  in  an  engagement." 

The  vote  of  the  brave  War-ruler  was  gained,  the  council 
determined  to  give  battle ;  and  such  was  the  ascendency  and 
acknowledged  military  eminence  of  Miltiades,  that  his  brother 
generals  one  and  all  gave  up  their  days  of  command  to  him, 
and  cheerfully  acted  under  his  orders.  Fearful,  however,  of 
creating  any  jealousy,  and  of  so  failing  to  obtain  the  vigorous 
cooperation  of  all  parts  of  his  small  army,  Miltiades  waited  till 
the  day  when  the  chief  command  would  have  come  round  to 
him  in  regular  rotation  before  he  led  the  troops  against  the 
enemy. 

The  inaction  of  the  Asiatic  commanders  during  this  inter- 
val appears  strange  at  first  sight ;  but  Hippias  was  with  them, 
and  they  and  he  were  aware  of  their  chance  of  a  bloodless  con- 
quest through  the  machinations  of  his  partisans  among  the 
Athenians.  The  nature  of  the  ground  also  explains  in  many 
points  the  tactics  of  the  opposite  generals  before  the  battle,  as 
well  as  the  operations  of  the  troops  during  the  engagement. 

The  plain  of  Marathon,  which  is  about  twenty-two  miles 
distant  from  Athens,  lies  along  the  bay  of  the  same  name  on 
the  northeastern  coast  of  Attica.  The  plain  is  nearly  in  the 
form  of  a  crescent,  and  about  six  miles  in  length.  It  is  about 


332  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

two  miles  broad  in  the  centre,  where  the  space  between  the 
mountains  and  the  sea  is  greatest,  but  it  narrows  toward  either 
extremity,  the  mountains  coming  close  down  to  the  water  at 
the  horns  of  the  bay.  There  is  a  valley  trending  inward  from 
the  middle  of  the  plain,  and  a  ravine  comes  down  to  it  to  the 
southward.  Elsewhere  it  is  closely  girt  round  on  the  land  side 
by  rugged  limestone  mountains,  which  are  thickly  studded  with 
pines,  olive-trees  and  cedars,  and  overgrown  with  the  myrtle, 
arbutus,  and  the  other  low  odoriferous  shrubs  that  everywhere 
perfume  the  Attic  air. 

The  level  of  the  ground  is  now  varied  by  the  mound  raised 
over  those  who  fell  in  the  battle,  but  it  was  an  unbroken  plain 
when  the  Persians  encamped  on  it.  There  are  marshes  at  each 
end,  which  are  dry  in  spring  and  summer  and  then  offer  no  ob- 
struction to  the  horseman,  but  are  commonly  flooded  with  rain 
and  so  rendered  impracticable  for  cavalry  in  the  autumn,  the 
time  of  year  at  which  the  action  took  place. 

The  Greeks,  lying  encamped  on  the  mountains,  could  watch 
every  movement  of  the  Persians  on  the  plain  below,  while  they 
were  enabled  completely  to  mask  their  own.  Miltiades  also 
had,  from  his  position,  the  power  of  giving  battle  whenever  he 
pleased,  or  of  delaying  it  at  his  discretion,  unless  Datis  were  to 
attempt  the  perilous  operation  of  storming  the  heights. 

If  we  turn  to  the  map  of  the  Old  World,  to  test  the  com- 
parative territorial  resources  of  the  two  states  whose  armies 
were  now  about  to  come  into  conflict,  the  immense  preponder- 
ance of  the  material  power  of  the  Persian  king  over  that  of  the 
Athenian  republic  is  more  striking  than  any  similar  contrast 
which  history  can  supply.  It  has  been  truly  remarked  that,  in 
estimating  mere  areas  Attica,  containing  on  its  whole  surface 
only  seven  hundred  square  miles,  shrinks  into  insignificance  if 
compared  with  many  a  baronial  fief  of  the  Middle  Ages,  or 
many  a  colonial  allotment  of  modern  times.  Its  antagonist,  the 
Persian,  empire,  comprised  the  whole  of  modern  Asiatic  and 
much  of  modern  European  Turkey,  the  modern  kingdom  of 
Persia  and  the  countries  of  modern  Georgia,  Armenia,  Balkh, 
the  Punjaub,  Afghanistan.  Beloochistan,  Egypt  and  Tripoli. 

Nor  could  a  European,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century 
before  our  era,  look  upon  this  huge  accumulation  of  power  be- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  333 

neath  the  sceptre  of  a  single  Asiatic  ruler  with  the  indifference 
with  which  we  now  observe  on  the  map  the  extensive  dominions 
of  modern  Oriental  sovereigns;  for,  as  has  been  already  re- 
marked, before  Marathon  was  fought,  the  prestige  of  success 
and  of  supposed  superiority  of  race  was  on  the  side  of  the 
Asiatic  against  the  European.  Asia  was  the  original  seat  of 
human  societies,  and  long  before  any  trace  can  be  found  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  rest  of  the  world  having  emerged  from  the 
rudest  barbarism,  we  can  perceive  that  mighty  and  brilliant 
empires  flourished  in  the  Asiatic  continent.  They  appear 
before  us  through  the  twilight  of  primeval  history,  dim  and 
indistinct,  but  massive  and  majestic,  like  mountains  in  the  early 
dawn. 

Instead,  however,  of  the  infinite  variety  and  restless  change 
which  has  characterized  the  institutions  and  fortunes  of  Euro- 
pean states  ever  since  the  commencement  of  the  civilization  of 
our  continent,  a  monotonous  uniformity  pervades  the  histories 
of  nearly  all  Oriental  empires,  from  the  most  ancient  down  to 
the  most  recent  times.  They  are  characterized  by  the  rapidity 
of  their  early  conquests,  by  the  immense  extent  of  the  domin- 
ions comprised  in  them,  by  the  establishment  of  a  satrap  or 
pashaw  system  of  governing  the  provinces,  by  an  invariable 
and  speedy  degeneracy  in  the  princes  of  the  royal  house,  the 
effeminate  nurslings  of  the  seraglio  succeeding  to  the  warrior 
sovereigns  reared  in  the  camp,  and  by  the  internal  anarchy  and 
insurrections  which  indicate  and  accelerate  the  decline  and  fall 
of  these  unwieldy  and  ill-organized  fabrics  of  power. 

It  is  also  a  striking  fact  that  the  governments  of  all  the  great 
Asiatic  empires  have  in  all  ages  been  absolute  despotisms.  And 
Heeren  is  right  in  connecting  this  with  another  great  fact, 
which  is  important  from  its  influence  both  on  the  political  and 
the  social  life  of  Asiatics.  "  Among  all  the  considerable  nations 
of  Inner  Asia,  the  paternal  government  of  every  household  was 
corrupted  by  polygamy:  where  that  custom  exists,  a  good 
political  constitution  is  impossible.  Fathers,  being  converted 
into  domestic  despots,  are  ready  to  pay  the  same  abject  obe- 
dience to  their  sovereign  which  they  exact  from  their  family 
and  dependents  in  their  domestic  economy." 

We  should  bear  in  mind,  also,  the  inseparable  connection 


334  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

between  the  state  religion  and  all  legislation  which  has  always 
prevailed  in  the  East,  and  the  constant  existence  of  a  powerful 
sacerdotal  body,  exercising  some  check,  though  precarious  and 
irregular,  over  the  throne  itself,  grasping  at  all  civil  administra- 
tion, claiming  the  supreme  control  of  education,  stereotyping 
the  lines  in  which  literature  and  science  must  move,  and  limit- 
ing the  extent  to  which  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  human  mind 
to  prosecute  its  inquiries. 

With  these  general  characteristics  rightly  felt  and  under- 
stood it  becomes  a  comparatively  easy  task  to  investigate  and 
appreciate  the  origin,  progress  and  principles  of  Oriental  em- 
pires in  general,  as  well  as  of  the  Persian  monarchy  in  particu- 
lar. And  we  are  thus  better  enabled  to  appreciate  the  repulse 
which  Greece  gave  to  the  arms  of  the  East,  and  to  judge  of  the 
probable  consequences  to  human  civilization,  if  the  Persians 
had  succeeded  in  bringing  Europe  under  their  yoke,  as  they 
had  already  subjugated  the  fairest  portions  of  the  rest  of  the 
then  known  world. 

The  Greeks,  from  their  geographical  position,  formed  the 
natural  van-guard  of  European  liberty  against  Persian  ambition ; 
and  they  preeminently  displayed  the  salient  points  of  distinctive 
national  character  which  have  rendered  European  civilization 
so  far  superior  to  Asiatic.  The  nations  that  dwelt  in  ancient 
times  around  and  near  the  northern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  were  the  first  in  our  continent  to  receive  from  the  East  the 
rudiments  of  art  and  literature,  and  the  germs  of  social  and 
political  organizations.  Of  these  nations  the  Greeks,  through 
their  vicinity  to  Asia  Minor,  Phoenicia,  and  Egypt,  were  among 
the  very  foremost  in  acquiring  the  principles  and  habits  of 
civilized  life ;  and  they  also  at  once  imparted  a  new  and  wholly 
original  stamp  on  all  which  they  received.  Thus,  in  their 
religion,  they  received  from  foreign  settlers  the  names  of  all 
their  deities  and  many  of  their  rites,  but  they  discarded  the 
loathsome  monstrosities  of  the  Nile,  the  Orontes,  and  the  Gan- 
ges ;  they  nationalized  their  creed,  and  their  own  poets  created 
their  beautiful  mythology.  No  sacerdotal  caste  ever  existed 
in  Greece. 

So,  in  their  governments,  they  lived  long  under  hereditary 
kings,  but  never  endured  the  permanent  establishment  of  abso- 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  335 

lute  monarchy.  Their  early  kings  were  constitutional  rulers, 
governing  with  denned  prerogatives.  And  long  before  the  Per- 
sian invasion,  the  kingly  form  of  government  had  given  way  in 
almost  all  the  Greek  states  to  republican  institutions,  presenting 
infinite  varieties  of  the  blending  or  the  alternate  predominance 
of  the  oligarchical  and  democratical  principles.  In  literature 
and  science  the  Greek  intellect  followed  no  beaten  track,  and 
acknowledged  no  limitary  rules.  The  Greeks  thought  their 
subjects  boldly  out;  and  the  novelty  of  a  speculation  invested 
it  in  their  minds  with  interest,  and  not  with  criminality. 

Versatile,  restless,  enterprising,  and  self-confident,  the 
Greeks  presented  the  most  striking  contrast  to  the  habitual 
quietude  and  submissiveness  of  the  Orientals;  and,  of  all  the 
Greeks,  the  Athenians  exhibited  these  national  characteristics 
in  the  strongest  degree.  This  spirit  of  activity  and  daring, 
joined  to  a  generous  sympathy  for  the  fate  of  their  fellow- 
Greeks  in  Asia,  had  led  them  to  join  in  the  last  Ionian  war, 
and  now  mingling  with  their  abhorrence  of  the  usurping  family 
of  their  own  citizens,  which  for  a  period  had  forcibly  seized  on 
and  exercised  despotic  power  at  Athens,  nerved  them  to  defy 
the  wrath  of  King  Darius,  and  to  refuse  to  receive  back  at  his 
bidding  the  tyrant  whom  they  had  some  years  before  driven 
out. 

The  enterprise  and  genius  of  an  Englishman  have  lately 
confirmed  by  fresh  evidence,  and  invested  with  fresh  interest, 
the  might  of  the  Persian  monarch  who  sent  his  troops  to  com- 
bat at  Marathon.  Inscriptions  in  a  character  termed  the  Ar- 
row-headed, or  Cuneiform,  had  long  been  known  to  exist  on  the 
marble  monuments  at  Persepolis,  near  the  site  of  the  ancient 
Susa,  and  on  the  faces  of  rocks  in  other  places  formerly  ruled 
over  by  the  early  Persian  kings.  But  for  thousands  of  years 
they  had  been  mere  unintelligible  enigmas  to  the  curious  but 
baffled  beholder ;  and  they  were  often  referred  to  as  instances 
of  the  folly  of  human  pride,  which  could  indeed  write  its  own 
praises  in  the  solid  rock,  but  only  for  the  rock  to  outlive  the 
language  as  well  as  the  memory  of  the  vainglorious  inscribers. 

The  elder  Niebuhr,  Grotefend,  and  Lassen,  had  made  some 
guesses  at  the  meaning  of  the  cuneiform  letters;  but  Major 
Rawlinson  of  the  East  India  Company's  service,  after  years  of 


336  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

labor,  has  at  last  accomplished  the  glorious  achievement  of  fully 
revealing  the  alphabet  and  the  grammar  of  this  long  unknown 
tongue.  He  has,  in  particular,  fully  deciphered  and  expounded 
the  inscription  on  the  sacred  rock  of  Behistun,  on  the  western 
frontiers  of  Media.  These  records  of  the  Achaemenidae  have 
at  length  found  their  interpreter ;  and  Darius  himself  speaks  to 
us  from  the  consecrated  mountain,  and  tells  us  the  names  of 
the  nations  that  obeyed  him,  the  revolts  that  he  suppressed,  his 
victories,  his  piety,  and  his  glory. 

Kings  who  thus  seek  the  admiration  of  posterity  are  little 
likely  to  dim  the  record  of  their  successes  by  the  mention  of 
their  occasional  defeats ;  and  it  throws  no  suspicion  on  the  nar- 
rative of  the  Greek  historians  that  we  find  these  inscriptions 
silent  respecting  the  overthrow  of  Datis  and  Artaphernes,  as 
well  as  respecting  the  reverses  which  Darius  sustained  in  per- 
son during  his  Scythian  campaigns.  But  these  indisputable 
monuments  of  Persian  fame  confirm,  and  even  increase  the 
opinion  with  which  Herodotus  inspires  us  of  the  vast  power 
which  Cyrus  founded  and  Cambyses  increased ;  which  Darius 
augmented  by  Indian  and  Arabian  conquests,  and  seemed  like- 
ly, when  he  directed  his  arms  against  Europe,  to  make  the  pre- 
dominant monarchy  of  the  world. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Chinese  empire,  in  which, 
throughout  all  ages  down  to  the  last  few  years,  one-third  of  the 
human  race  has  dwelt  almost  unconnected  with  the  other  por- 
tions, all  the  great  kingdoms,  which  we  know  to  have  existed 
in  ancient  Asia,  were,  in  Darius'  time,  blended  into  the  Per- 
sian. The  northern  Indians,  the  Assyrians,  the  Syrians,  the 
Babylonians,  the  Chaldees,  the  Phoenicians,  the  nations  of  Pal- 
estine, the  Armenians,  the  Bactrians,  the  Lydians,  the  Phryg- 
ians, the  Parthians,  and  the  Medes,  all  obeyed  the  sceptre  of 
the  Great  King :  the  Medes  standing  next  to  the  native  Per- 
sians in  honor,  and  the  empire  being  frequently  spoken  of  as 
that  of  the  Medes,  or  as  that  of  the  Medes  and  Persians.  Egypt 
and  Cyrene  were  Persian  provinces;  the  Greek  colonists  in 
Asia  Minor  and  the  islands  of  the  ^Egean  were  Darius'  sub- 
jects ;  and  their  gallant  but  unsuccessful  attempts  to  throw  off 
the  Persian  yoke  had  only  served  to  rivet  it  more  strongly,  and 
to  increase  the  general  belief  that  the  Greeks  could  not  stand 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  337 

before  the  Persians  in  a  field  of  battle.  Darius'  Scythian  war, 
though  unsuccessful  in  its  immediate  object,  had  brought  about 
the  subjugation  of  Thrace  and  the  submission  of  Macedonia. 
From  the  Indus  to  the  Peneus,  all  was  his. 

We  may  imagine  the  wrath  with  which  the  lord  of  so  many 
nations  must  have  heard,  nine  years  before  the  battle  of  Mara- 
thon, that  a  strange  nation  toward  the  setting  sun,  called  the 
Athenians,  had  dared  to  help  his  rebels  in  Ionia  against  him, 
and  that  they  had  plundered  and  burned  the  capital  of  one  of 
his  provinces.  Before  the  burning  of  Sardis,  Darius  seems 
never  to  have  heard  of  the  existence  of  Athens ;  but  his  satraps 
in  Asia  Minor  had  for  some  time  seen  Athenian  refugees  at 
their  provincial  courts  imploring  assistance  against  their  fellow- 
countrymen. 

When  Hippias  was  driven  away  from  Athens,  and  the 
tyrannic  dynasty  of  the  Pisistratidae  finally  overthrown  in  B.C. 
510,  the  banished  tyrant  and  his  adherents,  after  vainly  seeking 
to  be  restored  by  Spartan  intervention,  had  betaken  themselves 
to  Sardis,  the  capital  city  of  the  satrapy  of  Artaphernes.  There 
Hippias — in  the  expressive  words  of  Herodotus — began  every 
kind  of  agitation,  slandering  the  Athenians  before  Artaphernes, 
and  doing  all  he  could  to  induce  the  satrap  to  place  Athens  in 
subjection  to  him,  as  the  tributary  vassal  of  King  Darius. 
When  the  Athenians  heard  of  his  practices,  they  sent  envoys 
to  Sardis  to  remonstrate  with  the  Persians  against  taking  up 
the  quarrel  of  the  Athenian  refugees. 

But  Artaphernes  gave  them  in  reply  a  menacing  command 
to  receive  Hippias  back  again  if  they  looked  for  safety.  The 
Athenians  were  resolved  not  to  purchase  safety  at  such  a  price, 
and  after  rejecting  the  satrap's  terms,  they  considered  that  they 
and  the  Persians  were  declared  enemies.  At  this  very  crisis 
the  Ionian  Greeks  implored  the  assistance  of  their  European 
brethren,  to  enable  them  to  recover  their  independence  from 
Persia.  Athens,  and  the  city  of  Eretria  in  Eubcea,  alone  con- 
sented. Twenty  Athenian  galleys,  and  five  Eretrian,  crossed 
the  ^Egean  Sea,  and  by  a  bold  and  sudden  march  upon  Sardis, 
the  Athenians  and  their  allies  succeeded  in  capturing  the  capi- 
tal city  of  the  haughty  satrap  who  had  recently  menaced  them 
with  servitude  or  destruction.  They  were  pursued,  and  de* 

H.  E.,  VOL.  I.— 22 


338  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

feated  on  their  return  to  the  coast,  and  Athens  took  no  further 
part  in  the  Ionian  war ;  but  the  insult  that  she  had  put  upon 
the  Persian  power  was  speedily  made  known  throughout  that 
empire,  and  was  never  to  be  forgiven  or  forgotten. 

In  the  emphatic  simplicity  of  the  narrative  of  Herodotus, 
the  wrath  of  the  Great  King  is  thus  described :  "  Now  when  it 
was  told  to  King  Darius  that  Sardis  had  been  taken  and 
burned  by  the  Athenians  and  lonians,  he  took  small  heed  of 
the  lonians,  well  knowing  who  they  were,  and  that  their  revolt 
would  soon  be  put  down ;  but  he  asked  who,  and  what  manner 
of  men,  the  Athenians  were.  And  when  he  had  been  told,  he 
called  for  his  bow ;  and,  having  taken  it,  and  placed  an  arrow 
on  the  string,  he  let  the  arrow  fly  toward  heaven ;  and  as  he 
shot  it  into  the  air,  he  said,  *  Oh !  supreme  God,  grant  me  that 
I  may  avenge  myself  on  the  Athenians.'  And  when  he  had 
said  this,  he  appointed  one  of  his  servants  to  say  to  him  every 
day  as  he  sat  at  meat,  *  Sire,  remember  the  Athenians.'  " 

Some  years  were  occupied  in  the  complete  reduction  of 
Ionia.  But  when  this  was  effected,  Darius  ordered  his  victo- 
rious forces  to  proceed  to  punish  Athens  and  Eretria,  and  to 
conquer  European  Greece.  The  first  armament  sent  for  this 
purpose  was  shattered  by  shipwreck,  and  nearly  destroyed  off 
Mount  Athos.  But  the  purpose  of  King  Darius  was  not  easily 
shaken.  A  larger  army  was  ordered  to  be  collected  in  Cilicia, 
and  requisitions  were  sent  to  all  the  maritime  cities  of  the  Per- 
sian empire  for  ships  of  war,  and  for  transports  of  sufficient 
size  for  carrying  cavalry  as  well  as  infantry  across  the  ^Egean. 
While  these  preparations  were  being  made,  Darius  sent  heralds 
round  to  the  Grecian  cities  demanding  their  submission  to 
Persia.  It  was  proclaimed  in  the  market-place  of  each  little 
Hellenic  state — some  with  territories  not  larger  than  the  Isle 
of  Wight — that  King  Darius,  the  lord  of  all  men,  from  the 
rising  to  the  setting  sun,1  required  earth  and  water  to  be  deliv- 
ered to  his  heralds,  as  a  symbolical  acknowledgment  that  he 
was  head  and  master  of  the  country.  Terror-stricken  at  the 
power  of  Persia  and  at  the  severe  punishment  that  had  re- 
cently been  inflicted  on  the  refractory  lonians,  many  of  the 
continental  Greeks  and  nearly  all  the  islanders  submitted,  and 

1  yEschines 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  339 

gave  the  required  tokens  of  vassalage  At  Sparta  and  Athens 
an  indignant  refusal  was  returned — a  refusal  which  was  dis- 
graced by  outrage  and  violence  against  the  persons  of  the 
Asiatic  heralds. 

Fresh  fuel  was  thus  added  to  the  anger  of  Darius  against 
Athens,  and  the  Persian  preparations  went  on  with  renewed 
vigor.  In  the  summer  of  B.C.  490,  the  army  destined  for  the 
invasion  was  assembled  in  the  Aleian  plain  of  Cilicia,  near  the 
sea.  A  fleet  of  six  hundred  galleys  and  numerous  transports 
was  collected  on  the  coast  for  the  embarkation  of  troops,  horse 
as  well  as  foot.  A  Median  general  named  Datis,  and  Arta- 
phernes,  the  son  of  the  satrap  of  Sardis,  and  who  was  also 
nephew  of  Darius,  were  placed  in  titular  joint-command  of  the 
expedition.  The  real  supreme  authority  was  probably  given 
to  Datis  alone,  from  the  way  in  which  the  Greek  writers  speak 
of  him. 

We  know  no  details  of  the  previous  career  of  this  officer; 
but  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  his  abilities  and  brav- 
ery had  been  proved  by  experience,  or  his  Median  birth  would 
have  prevented  his  being  placed  in  high  command  by  Darius. 
He  appears  to  have  been  the  first  Mede  who  was  thus  trusted 
by  the  Persian  kings  after  the  overthrow  of  the  conspiracy  of 
the  Median  magi  against  the  Persians  immediately  before 
Darius  obtained  the  throne.  Datis  received  instructions  to 
complete  the  subjugation  of  Greece,  and  especial  orders  were 
given  him  with  regard  to  Eretria  and  Athens.  He  was  to  take 
these  two  cities,  and  he  was  to  lead  the  inhabitants  away  cap- 
tive, and  bring  them  as  slaves  into  the  presence  of  the  Great 
King. 

Datis  embarked  his  forces  in  the  fleet  that  awaited  them, 
and  coasting  along  the  shores  of  Asia  Minor  till  he  was  off 
Samos,  he  thence  sailed  due  westward  through  the  ^Egean 
Sea  for  Greece,  taking  the  islands  in  his  way.  The  Naxians 
had,  ten  years  before,  successfully  stood  a  siege  against  a  Per- 
sian armament,  but  they  now  were  too  terrified  to  offer  any 
resistance,  and  fled  to  the  mountain  tops,  while  the  enemy 
burned  their  town  and  laid  waste  their  lands.  Thence  Datis, 
compelling  the  Greek  islanders  to  join  him  with  their  ships 
and  men,  sailed  onward  to  the  coast  of  Eubcea.  The  little 


340  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

town  of  Carystus  essayed  resistance,  but  was  quickly  over- 
powered. 

He  next  attacked  Eretria.  The  Athenians  sent  four  thou- 
sand men  to  its  aid ;  but  treachery  was  at  work  among  the 
Eretrians ;  and  the  Athenian  force  received  timely  warning 
from  one  of  the  leading  men  of  the  city  to  retire  to  aid  in  sav- 
ing their  own  country,  instead  of  remaining  to  share  in  the 
inevitable  destruction  of  Eretria.  Left  to  themselves,  the 
Eretrians  repulsed  the  assaults  of  the  Persians  against  their 
walls  for  six  days ;  on  the  seventh  they  were  betrayed  by  two 
of  their  chiefs,  and  the  Persians  occupied  the  city.  The  tem- 
ples were  burned  in  revenge  for  the  firing  of  Sardis,  and  the 
inhabitants  were  bound,  and  placed  as  prisoners  in  the  neigh- 
boring islet  of  .£Lgilia,  to  wait  there  till  Datis  should  bring  the 
Athenians  to  join  them  in  captivity,  when  both  populations 
were  to  be  led  into  Upper  Asia,  there  to  learn  their  doom  from 
the  lips  of  King  Darius  himself. 

Flushed  with  success,  and  with  half  his  mission  thus 
accomplished,  Datis  reembarked  his  troops,  and,  crossing  the 
little  channel  that  separates  Eubcea  from  the  mainland,  he 
encamped  his  troops  on  the  Attic  coast  at  Marathon,  drawing 
up  his  galleys  on  the  shelving  beach,  as  was  the  custom  with 
the  navies  of  antiquity.  The  conquered  islands  behind  him 
served  as  places  of  deposit  for  his  provisions  and  military 
stores.  His  position  at  Marathon  seemed  to  him  in  every  re- 
spect advantageous,  and  the  level  nature  of  the  ground  on 
which  he  camped  was  favorable  for  the  employment  of  his  cav- 
alry, if  the  Athenians  should  venture  to  engage  him.  Hippias, 
who  accompanied  him,  and  acted  as  the  guide  of  the  invaders, 
had  pointed  out  Marathon  as  the  best  place  for  a  landing,  for 
this  very  reason.  Probably  Hippias  was  also  influenced  by  the 
recollection  that  forty-seven  years  previously,  he,  with  his 
father  Pisistratus,  had  crossed  with  an  army  from  Eretria  to 
Marathon,  and  had  won  an  easy  victory  over  their  Athenian 
enemies  on  that  very  plain,  which  had  restored  them  to  tyran- 
nic power.  The  omen  seemed  cheering.  The  place  was  the 
same,  but  Hippias  soon  learned  to  his  cost  how  great  a  change 
had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the  Athenians. 

But  though  "  the  fierce  democracy"  of  Athens  was  zealous 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  341 

and  true  against  foreign  invader  and  domestic  tyrant,  a  faction 
existed  in  Athens,  as  at  Eretria,  who  were  willing  to  purchase 
a  party  triumph  over  their  fellow-citizens  at  the  price  of  their 
country's  ruin.  Communications  were  opened  between  these 
men  and  the  Persian  camp,  which  would  have  led  to  a  catas- 
trophe like  that  of  Eretria,  if  Miltiades  had  not  resolved  and 
persuaded  his  colleagues  to  resolve  on  fighting  at  all  hazards. 

When  Miltiades  arrayed  his  men  for  action,  he  staked  on 
the  arbitrament  of  one  battle  not  only  the  fate  of  Athens,  but 
that  of  all  Greece ;  for  if  Athens  had  fallen,  no  other  Greek 
state,  except  Lacedaemon,  would  have  had  the  courage  to 
resist ;  and  the  Lacedaemonians,  though  they  would  probably 
have  died  in  their  ranks  to  the  last  man,  never  could  have 
successfully  resisted  the  victorious  Persians  and  the  numerous 
Greek  troops  which  would  have  soon  marched  under  the  Per- 
sian satraps,  had  they  prevailed  over  Athens. 

Nor  was  there  any  power  to  the  westward  of  Greece  that 
could  have  offered  an  effectual  opposition  to  Persia,  had  she 
once  conquered  Greece,  and  made  that  country  a  basis  for 
future  military  operations.  Rome  was  at  this  time  in  her  sea- 
son of  utmost  weakness.  Her  dynasty  of  powerful  Etruscan 
kings  had  been  driven  out ;  and  her  infant  commonwealth  was 
reeling  under  the  attacks  of  the  Etruscans  and  Volscians  from 
without,  and  the  fierce  dissensions  between  the  patricians  and 
plebeians  within.  Etruria,  with  her  lucumos  and  serfs,  was 
no  match  for  Persia.  Samnium  had  not  grown  into  the  might 
which  she  afterward  put  forth ;  nor  could  the  Greek  colonies 
in  South  Italy  and  Sicily  hope  to  conquer  when  their  parent 
states  had  perished.  Carthage  had  escaped  the  Persian  yoke 
in  the  time  of  Cambyses,  through  the  reluctance  of  the.  Phoe- 
nician mariners  to  serve  against  their  kinsmen. 

But  such  forbearance  could  not  long  have  been  relied  on, 
and  the  future  rival  of  Rome  would  have  become  as  submissive 
a  minister  of  the  Persian  power  as  were  the  Phoenician  cities 
themselves.  If  we  turn  to  Spain ;  or  if  we  pass  the  great 
mountain  chain,  which,  prolonged  through  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Cevennes,  the  Alps,  and  the  Balkan,  divides  Northern  from 
Southern  Europe,  we  shall  find  nothing  at  that  period  but 
mere  savage  Finns,  Celts,  Slavs,  and  Teutons.  Had  Persia 


342  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

beaten  Athens  at  Marathon,  she  could  have  found  no  obstacle 
to  prevent  Darius,  the  chosen  servant  of  Ormuzd,  from  advanc 
ing  his  sway  over  all  the  known  Western  races  of  mankind. 
The  infant  energies  of  Europe  would  have  been  trodden  out 
beneath  universal  conquest,  and  the  history  of  the  world,  like 
the  history  of  Asia,  have  become  a  mere  record  of  the  rise  and 
fall  of  despotic  dynasties,  of  the  incursions  of  barbarous 
hordes,  and  of  the  mental  and  political  prostration  of  millions 
beneath  the  diadem,  the  tiara,  and  the  sword. 

Great  as  the  preponderance  of  the  Persian  over  the  Athe- 
nian power  at  that  crisis  seems  to  have  been,  it  would  be  unjust 
to  impute  wild  rashness  to  the  policy  of  Miltiades  and  those 
who  voted  with  him  in  the  Athenian  council  of  war,  or  to  look 
on  the  after-current  of  events  as  the  mere  fortunate  result  of 
successful  folly.  As  before  has  been  remarked,  Miltiades, 
while  prince  of  the  Chersonese,  had  seen  service  in  the  Persian 
armies ;  and  he  knew  by  personal  observation  how  many  ele- 
ments of  weakness  lurked  beneath  their  imposing  aspect  of 
strength.  He  knew  that  the  bulk  of  their  troops  no  longer 
consisted  of  the  hardy  shepherds  and  mountaineers  from  Persia 
proper  and  Kurdistan,  who  won  Cyrus's  battles ;  but  that  un- 
willing contingents  from  conquered  nations  now  rilled  up  the 
Persian  muster-rolls,  fighting  more  from  compulsion  than  from 
any  zeal  in  the  cause  of  their  masters.  He  had  also  the 
sagacity  and  the  spirit  to  appreciate  the  superiority  of  the 
Greek  armor  and  organization  over  the  Asiatic,  notwith- 
standing former  reverses.  Above  all,  he  felt  and  worthily 
trusted  the  enthusiasm  of  those  whom  he  led. 

The  Athenians  whom  he  led  had  proved  by  their  newborn 
valor  in  recent  wars  against  the  neighboring  states  that 
"  liberty  and  equality  of  civic  rights  are  brave  spirit-stirring 
things,  and  they,  who,  while  under  the  yoke  of  a  despot,  had 
been  no  better  men  of  war  than  any  of  their  neighbors,  as  soon 
as  they  were  free,  became  the  foremost  men  of  all ;  for  each 
felt  that  in  fighting  for  a  free  commonwealth,  he  fought  for 
himself,  and  whatever  he  took  in  hand,  he  was  zealous  to  do 
the  work  thoroughly."  So  the  nearly  contemporaneous  histo- 
rian describes  the  change  of  spirit  that  was  seen  in  the  Athe- 
nians after  their  tyrants  were  expelled ;  and  Miltiades  knew 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  343 

that  in  leading  them  against  the  invading  army,  where  they 
had  Hippias,  the  foe  they  most  hated,  before  them,  he  was 
bringing  into  battle  no  ordinary  men,  and  could  calculate  on 
no  ordinary  heroism. 

As  for  traitors,  he  was  sure  that,  whatever  treachery  might 
lurk  among  some  of  the  higher  born  and  wealthier  Athenians, 
the  rank  and  file  whom  he  commanded  were  ready  to  do  their 
utmost  in  his  and  their  own  cause.  With  regard  to  future 
attacks  from  Asia,  he  might  reasonably  hope  that  one  victory 
would  inspirit  all  Greece  to  combine  against  the  common  foe; 
and  that  the  latent  seeds  of  revolt  and  disunion  in  the  Persian 
empire  would  soon  burst  forth  and  paralyze  its  energies,  so  as 
to  leave  Greek  independence  secure. 

With  these  hopes  and  risks,  Miltiades,  on  the  afternoon  of 
a  September  day,  B.C.  490,  gave  the  word  for  the  Athenian 
army  to  prepare  for  battle.  There  were  many  local  associ- 
ations connected  with  those  mountain  heights  which  were  cal- 
culated powerfully  to  excite  the  spirits  of  the  men,  and  of 
which  the  commanders  well  knew  how  to  avail  themselves  in 
their  exhortations  to  their  troops  before  the  encounter.  Mara- 
thon itself  was  a  region  sacred  to  Hercules.  Close  to  them 
was  the  fountain  of  Macaria,  who  had  in  days  of  yore  devoted 
herself  to  death  for  the  liberty  of  her  people.  The  very  plain 
on  which  they  were  to  fight  was  the  scene  of  the  explc?ts  of 
their  national  hero,  Theseus ;  and  there,  too,  as  old  legends 
told,  the  Athenians  and  the  Heraclidae  had  routed  the  invader, 
Eurystheus. 

These  traditions  were  not  mere  cloudy  myths  or  idle  fic- 
tions, but  matters  of  implicit  earnest  faith  to  the  men  of  that 
day,  and  many  a  fervent  prayer  arose  from  the  Athenian  ranks 
to  the  heroic  spirits  who,  -while  on  earth,  had  striven  and 
suffered  on  that  very  spot,  and  who  were  believed  to  be  now 
heavenly  powers,  looking  down  with  interest  on  their  still  be- 
loved country,  and  capable  of  interposing  with  superhuman  aid 
in  its  behalf. 

According  to  old  national  custom,  the  warriors  of  each  tribe 
were  arrayed  together;  neighbor  thus  fighting  by  the  side  of 
neighbor,  friend  by  friend,  and  the  spirit  of  emulation  and  the 
consciousness  of  responsibility  excited  to  the  very  utmost. 


344  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

The  War-ruler,  Callimachus,  had  the  leading  of  the  right  wing; 
the  Plataeans  formed  the  extreme  left ;  and  Themistocles  and 
Aristides  commanded  the  centre.  The  line  consisted  of  the 
heavy-armed  spearmen  only ;  for  the  Greeks — until  the  time 
of  Iphicrates — took  little  or  no  account  of  light-armed  soldiers 
in  a  pitched  battle,  using  them  only  in  skirmishes,  or  for  the 
pursuit  of  a  defeated  enemy.  The  panoply  of  the  regular  in- 
fantry consisted  of  a  long  spear,  of  a  shield,  helmet,  breast- 
plate, greaves,  and  short  sword. 

Thus  equipped,  they  usually  advanced  slowly  and  steadily 
into  action  in  a  uniform  phalanx  of  about  eight  spears  deep. 
But  the  military  genius  of  Miltiades  led  him  to  deviate  on 
this  occasion  from  the  commonplace  tactics  of  his  countrymen. 
It  was  essential  for  him  to  extend  his  line  so  as  to  cover  all 
the  practicable  ground,  and  to  secure  himself  from  being  out- 
flanked and  charged  in  the  rear  by  the  Persian  horse.  This 
extension  involved  the  weakening  of  his  line.  Instead  of  a 
uniform  reduction  of  its  strength,  he  determined  on  detaching 
principally  from  his  centre,  which,  from  the  nature  of  the 
ground,  would  have  the  best  opportunities  for  rallying,  if 
broken ;  and  on  strengthening  his  wings  so  as  to  insure  advan- 
tage  at  those  points ;  and  he  trusted  to  his  own  skill  and  to  his 
soldiers'  discipline  for  the  improvement  of  that  advantage  into 
decisive  victory.1 

In  this  order,  and  availing  himself  probably  of  the  inequali- 
ties of  the  ground,  so  as  to  conceal  his  preparations  from  the 
enemy  till  the  last  possible  moment,  Miltiades  drew  up  the 
eleven  thousand  infantry  whose  spears  were  to  decide  this  crisis 
in  the  struggle  between  the  European  and  the  Asiatic  worlds 
The  sacrifices  by  which  the  favor  of  heaven  was  sought,  and 
its  will  consulted,  were  announced  to  show  propitious  omens. 
The  trumpet  sounded  for  action,  and,  chanting  the  hymn  of 

1  It  is  remarkable  that  there  is  no  other  instance  of  a  Greek  general 
deviating  from  the  ordinary  mode  of  bringing  a  phalanx  of  spearmen  into 
action  until  the  battles  of  Leuctra  and  Mantinea,  more  than  a  century 
after  Marathon,  when  Epaminondas  introduced  the  tactics  which  Alex- 
ander the  Great  in  ancient  times,  and  Frederick  the  Great  in  modern 
times,  made  so  famous,  of  concentrating  an  overpowing  force  to  bear  on 
some  decisive  point  of  the  enemy's  line,  while  he  kept  back,  or,  in  mili- 
tary phrase,  refused  the  weaker  part  of  his  own. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  345 

battle,  the  little  army  bore  down  upon  the  host  of  the  foe. 
Then,  too,  along  the  mountain  slopes  of  Marathon  must 
have  resounded  the  mutual  exhortation  which  ^schylus,  who 
fought  in  both  battles,  tells  us  was  afterward  heard  over  the 
waves  of  Salamis:  "On,  sons  of  the  Greeks!  Strike  for  the 
freedom  of  your  country!  strike  for  the  freedom  of  your 
children  and  of  your  wives — for  the  shrines  of  your  fathers' 
gods,  and  for  the  sepulchres  of  your  sires.  All— all  are  now 
staked  upon  the  strife." 

Instead  of  advancing  at  the  usual  slow  pace  of  the  phalanx, 
Miltiades  brought  his  men  on  at  a  run.  They  were  all  trained 
in  the  exercise  of  the  palcestra,  so  that  there  was  no  fear  of 
their  ending  the  charge  in  breathless  exhaustion ;  and  it  was 
of  the  deepest  importance  for  him  to  traverse  as  rapidly  as 
possible  the  mile  or  so  of  level  ground  that  lay  between  the 
mountain  foot  and  the  Persian  outposts,  and  so  to  get  his 
troops  into  close  action  before  the  Asiatic  cavalry  could  mount, 
form,  and  manoeuvre  against  him,  or  their  archers  keep  him 
long  under  fire,  and  before  the  enemy's  generals  could  fairly 
deploy  their  masses. 

"When  the  Persians,"  says  Herodotus,  "saw  the  Athenians 
running  down  on  them,  without  horse  or  bowmen,  and  scanty 
in  numbers,  they  thought  them  a  set  of  madmen  rushing  upon 
certain  destruction."  They  began,  however,  to  prepare  to 
receive  them,  and  the  Eastern  chiefs  arrayed,  as  quickly  as 
time  and  place  allowed,  the  varied  races  who  served  in  their 
motley  ranks.  Mountaineers  from  Hyrcania  and  Afghanistan, 
wild  horsemen  from  the  steppes  of  Khorassan,  the  black 
archers  of  Ethiopia,  swordsmen  from  the  banks  of  the  Indus, 
the  Oxus,  the  Euphrates  and  the  Nile,  made  ready  against  the 
enemies  of  the  Great  King. 

But  no  national  cause  inspired  them  except  the  division  of 
native  Persians ;  and  in  the  large  host  there  was  no  uniformity 
of  language,  creed,  race  or  military  system.  Still,  among  them 
there  were  many  gallant  men,  under  a  veteran  general ;  they 
were  familiarized  with  victory,  and  in  contemptuous  confi- 
dence their  infantry,  which  alone  had  time  to  form,  awaited 
the  Athenian  charge.  On  came  the  Greeks,  with  one  unwav- 
ering line  of  leveled  spears,  against  which  the  light  targets, 


346  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

the  short  lances  and  cimeters  of  the  Orientals  offered  weak 
defence.  The  front  rank  of  the  Asiatics  must  have  gone  down 
to  a  man  at  the  first  shock.  Still  they  recoiled  not,  but  strove 
by  individual  gallantry  and  by  the  weight  of  numbers  to  make 
up  for  the  disadvantages  of  weapons  and  tactics,  and  to  bear 
back  the  shallow  line  of  the  Europeans.  In  the  centre,  where 
the  native  Persians  and  the  Sacse  fought,  they  succeeded  in 
breaking  through  the  weakened  part  of  the  Athenian  phalanx; 
and  the  tribes  led  by  Aristides  and  Themistocles  were,  after  a 
brave  resistance,  driven  back  over  the  plain,  and  chased  by  the 
Persians  up  the  valley  toward  the  inner  country.  There  the 
nature  of  the  ground  gave  the  opportunity  of  rallying  and 
renewing  the  struggle. 

Meanwhile,  the  Greek  wings,  where  Miltiades  had  concen- 
trated his  chief  strength,  had  routed  the  Asiatics  opposed  to 
them ;  and  the  Athenian  and  Plataean  officers,  instead  of  pur- 
suing the  fugitives,  kept  their  troops  well  in  hand,  and,  wheel- 
ing round,  they  formed  the  two  wings  together.  Miltiades 
instantly  led  them  against  the  Persian  centre,  which  had  hith- 
erto been  triumphant.,  but  which  now  fell  back,  and  prepared 
to  encounter  these  new  and  unexpected  assailants.  Aristides 
and  Themistocles  renewed  the  fight  with  their  reorganized 
troops,  and  the  full  force  of  the  Greeks  was  brought  into  close 
action  with  the  Persian  and  Sacean  divisions  of  the  enemy. 
Datis'  veterans  strove  hard  to  keep  their  ground,  and  evening 
was  approaching  before  the  stern  encounter  was  decided. 

But  the  Persians,  with  their  slight  wicker  shields,  destitute 
of  body  armor,  and  never  taught  by  training  to  keep  the  even 
front  and  act  with  the  regular  movement  of  the  Greek  infan- 
try, fought  at  heavy  disadvantage  with  their  shorter  and 
feebler  weapons  against  the  compact  array  of  well-armed 
Athenian  and  Platsean  spearmen,  all  perfectly  drilled  to  per- 
form each  necessary  evolution  in  concert,  and  to  preserve  a  uni- 
form and  unwavering  line  in  battle.  In  personal  courage  and 
in  bodily  activity  the  Persians  were  not  inferior  to  their  adver- 
saries. Their  spirits  were  not  yet  cowed  by  the  recollection 
of  former  defeats ;  and  they  lavished  their  lives  freely,  rather 
than  forfeit  the  fame  which  they  had  won  by  so  many  victo- 
ries. While  their  rear  ranks  poured  an  incessant  shower  of 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  34; 

arrows  over  the  heads  of  their  comrades,  the  foremost  Per- 
sians  kept  rushing  forward,  sometimes  singly,  sometimes  in 
desperate  groups  of  ten  or  twelve,  upon  the  projecting  spears 
of  the  Greeks,  striving  to  force  a  lane  into  the  phalanx,  and 
to  bring  their  cimeters  and  daggers  into  play.  But  the  Greeks 
felt  their  superiority,  and  though  the  fatigue  of  the  long-con- 
tinued action  told  heavily  on  their  inferior  numbers,  the  sight 
of  the  carnage  that  they  dealt  upon  their  assailants  nerved 
them  to  fight  still  more  fiercely  on. 

At  last  the  previously  unvanquished  lords  of  Asia  turned 
their  backs  and  fled,  and  the  Greeks  followed,  striking  them 
down,  to  the  water's  edge,1  where  the  invaders  were  now 
hastily  launching  their  galleys,  and  seeking  to  embark  and  fly. 
Flushed  with  success,  the  Athenians  attacked  and  strove  to 
fire  the  fleet.  But  here  the  Asiatics  resisted  desperately,  and 
the  principal  loss  sustained  by  the  Greeks  was  in  the  assault 
on  the  ships.  Here  fell  the  brave  War-ruler  Callimachus,  the 
general  Stesilaus,  and  other  Athenians  of  note.  Seven  galleys 
were  fired;  but  the  Persians  succeeded  in  saving  the  rest. 
They  pushed  off  from  the  fatal  shore ;  but  even  here  the  skill 
of  Datis  did  not  desert  him,  and  he  sailed  round  to  the  west- 
ern coast  of  Attica,  in  hopes  to  find  the  city  unprotected,  and 
to  gain  possession  of  it  from  some  of  the  partisans  of  Hippias. 

Miltiades,  however,  saw  and  counteracted  his  manoeuvre. 
Leaving  Aristides,  and  the  troops  of  his  tribe,  to  guard  the 
spoil  and  the  slain,  the  Athenian  commander  led  his  conquer- 
ing army  by  a  rapid  night-march  back  across  the  country  to 
Athens.  And  when  the  Persian  fleet  had  doubled  the  Cape  of 
Sunium  and  sailed  up  to  the  Athenian  harbor  in  the  morn- 
ing, Datis  saw  arrayed  on  the  heights  above  the  city,  the 
troops  before  whom  his  men  had  fled  on  the  preceding  even- 
ing. All  hope  of  further  conquest  in  Europe  for  the  time 
was  abandoned,  and  the  baffled  armada  returned  to  the  Asi- 
atic coasts. 

1  The  flying  Mede,  his  shaftless  broken  bow ; 
The  fiery  Greek,  his  red  pursuing  spear; 
Mountains  above,  Earth's,  Ocean's  plain  below, 
Death  in  the  front,  Destruction  in  the  rear  1 
Such  was  the  scene.— BYRON. 


348  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

After  the  battle  had  been  fought,  but  while  the  dead  bodies 
were  yet  on  the  ground,  the  promised  reinforcement  from 
Sparta  arrived.  Two  thousand  Lacedaemonian  spearmen, 
starting  immediately  after  the  full  moon,  had  marched  the  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  between  Athens  and  Sparta  in  the  won- 
derfully short  time  of  three  days.  Though  too  late  to  share 
in  the  glory  of  the  action,  they  requested  to  be  allowed  to 
march  to  the  battle-field  to  behold  the  Medes.  They  proceeded 
thither,  gazed  on  the  dead  bodies  of  the  invaders,  and  then 
praising  the  Athenians  and  what  they  had  done,  they  returned 
to  Lacedaemon. 

The  number  of  the  Persian  dead  was  sixty-four  hundred ; 
of  the  Athenians,  one  hundred  and  ninety-two.  The  number 
of  the  Plataeans  who  fell  is  not  mentioned ;  but,  as  they  fought 
in  the  part  of  the  army  which  was  not  broken,  it  cannot  have 
been  large. 

The  apparent  disproportion  between  the  losses  of  the  two 
armies  is  not  surprising  when  we  remember  the  armor  of  the 
Greek  spearmen,  and  the  impossibility  of  heavy  slaughter 
being  inflicted  by  sword  or  lance  on  troops  so  armed,  as  long 
as  they  kept  firm  in  their  ranks.1 

The  Athenian  slain  were  buried  on  the  field  of  battle. 
This  was  contrary  to  the  usual  custom,  according  to  which  the 
bones  of  all  who  fell  fighting  for  their  country  in  each  year 
were  deposited  in  a  public  sepulchre  in  the  suburb  of  Athens 
called  the  "  Ceramicus."  But  it  was  felt  that  a  distinction  ought 
to  be  made  in  the  funeral  honors  paid  to  the  men  of  Marathon, 
even  as  their  merit  had  been  distinguished  over  that  of  all 
other  Athenians.  A  lofty  mound  was  raised  on  the  plain  of 
Marathon,  beneath  which  the  remains  of  the  men  of  Athens 
who  fell  in  the  battle  were  deposited.  Ten  columns  were 
erected  on  the  spot,  one  for  each  of  the  Athenian  tribes ;  and 
on  the  monumental  column  of  each  tribe  were  graven  the 
names  of  those  of  its  members  whose  glory  it  was  to  have 
fallen  in  the  great  battle  of  liberation.  The  antiquarian  Pau- 
sanias  read  those  names  there  six  hundred  years  after  the 

1  Mitford  well  refers  to  Crecy,  Poictiers,  and  Agincourt  as  instances 
of  similar  disparity  of  loss  between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered. 


349 

time  when  they  were  first  graven.1  The  columns  have  long 
perished,  but  the  mound  still  marks  the  spot  where  the  noblest 
heroes  of  antiquity  repose. 

A  separate  tumulus  was  raised  over  the  bodies  of  the  slain 
Plataeans,  and  another  over  the  light-armed  slaves  who  had 
taken  part  and  had  fallen  in  the  battle.*  There  was  also  a 
separate  funeral  monument  to  the  general  to  whose  genius  the 
victory  was  mainly  due.  Miltiades  did  not  live  long  after  his 
achievement  at  Marathon,  but  he  lived  long  enough  to  experi- 
ence a  lamentable  reverse  of  his  popularity  and  success.  As 
soon  as  the  Persians  had  quitted  the  western  coasts  of  the 
yEgean,  he  proposed  to  an  assembly  of  the  Athenian  people 
that  they  should  fit  out  seventy  galleys,  with  a  proportionate 
force  of  soldiers  and  military  stores,  and  place  it  at  his  dis- 
posal ;  not  telling  them  whither  he  meant  to  lead  it,  but  prom- 
ising them  that  if  they  would  equip  the  force  he  asked  for, 
and  give  him  discretionary  powers,  he  would  lead  it  to  a  land 
where  there  was  gold  in  abundance  to  be  won  with  ease. 

The  Greeks  of  that  time  believed  in  the  existence  of  east- 
ern realms  teeming  with  gold,  as  firmly  as  the  Europeans  of 
the  sixteenth  century  believed  in  El  Dorado  of  the  West.  The 
Athenians  probably  thought  that  the  recent  victor  of  Mara- 
thon, and  former  officer  of  Darius,  was  about  to  lead  them  on 
a  secret  expedition  against  some  wealthy  and  unprotected 
cities  of  treasure  in  the  Persian  dominions.  The  armament 
was  voted  and  equipped,  and  sailed  eastward  from  Attica,  no 
one  but  Miltiades  knowing  its  destination  until  the  Greek  isle 
of  paros  was  reached,  when  his  true  object  appeared.  In 
former  years,  while  connected  with  the  Persians  as  prince  of 
the  Chersonese,  Miltiades  had  been  involved  in  a  quarrel  with 

1  Pausanias  states,  with  implicit  belief,  that  the  battle-field  was  haunted 
at  night  by  supernatural  beings,  and  that  the  noise  of  combatants  and  the 
snorting  of  horses  were  heard  to  resound  on  it.    The  superstition  has 
survived  the  change  of  creeds,  and  the  shepherds  of  the  neighborhood  still 
believe  that  spectral  warriors  contend  on  the  plain  at  midnight,  and  they 
say  that  they  have  heard  the  shouts  of  the  combatants  and  the  neigh  ing 
of  the  steeds. 

2  It  is  probable  that  the  Greek  light- armed  irregulars  were  active  in 
the  attack  on  the  Persian  ships,  and  it  was  in  this  attack  that  the  Greeks 
suffered  their  principal  loss. 


350  THE  BATTLE  OF   MARATHON 

one  of  the  leading  men  among  the  Parians,  who  had  injured 
his  credit  and  caused  some  slights  to  be  put  upon  him  at  the 
court  of  the  Persian  satrap  Hydarnes.  The  feud  had  ever 
since  rankled  in  the  heart  of  the  Athenian  chief,  and  he  now 
attacked  Paros  for  the  sake  of  avenging  himself  on  his  ancient 
enemy. 

His  pretext,  as  general  of  the  Athenians,  was,  that  the 
Parians  had  aided  the  armament  of  Datis  with  a  war-galley. 
The  Parians  pretended  to  treat  about  terms  of  surrender,  but 
used  the  time  which  they  thus  gained  in  repairing  the  defec- 
tive parts  of  the  fortifications  of  their  city,  and  they  then  set 
the  Athenians  at  defiance.  So  far,  says  Herodotus,  the  ac- 
counts of  all  the  Greeks  agree.  But  the  Parians  in  after 
years  told  also  a  wild  legend,  how  a  captive  priestess  of  a 
Parian  temple  of  the  Deities  of  the  Earth  promised  Miltiades 
to  give  him  the  means  of  capturing  Paros ;  how,  at  her  bid- 
ding, the  Athenian  general  went  alone  at  night  and  forced  his 
way  into  a  holy  shrine,  near  the  city  gate,  but  with  what  pur- 
pose it  was  not  known ;  how  a  supernatural  awe  came  over 
him,  and  in  his  flight  he  fell  and  fractured  his  leg;  how  an 
oracle  afterward  forbade  the  Parians  to  punish  the  sacrilegious 
and  traitorous  priestess,  "because  it  was  fated  that  Miltiades 
should  come  to  an  ill  end,  and  she  was  only  the  instrument 
to  lead  him  to  evil."  Such  was  the  tale  that  Herodotus 
heard  at  Paros.  Certain  it  was  that  Miltiades  either  dislocated 
or  broke  his  leg  during  an  unsuccessful  siege  of  the  city,  and  re- 
turned home  in  evil  plight  with  his  baffled  and  defeated  forces. 

The  indignation  of  the  Athenians  was  proportionate  to  the 
hope  and  excitement  which  his  promises  had  raised.  Xanthip- 
pas,  the  head  of  one  of  the  first  families  in  Athens,  indicted 
him  before  the  supreme  popular  tribunal  for  the  capital  offence 
of  having  deceived  the  people.  His  guilt  was  undeniable,  and 
the  Athenians  passed  their  verdict  accordingly.  But  the  recol- 
lections of  Lemnos  and  Marathon,  and  the  sight  of  the  fallen 
general,  who  lay  stretched  on  a  couch  before  them,  pleaded 
successfully  in  mitigation  of  punishment,  and  the  sentence  was 
commuted  from  death  to  a  fine  of  fifty  talents.  This  was  paid 
by  his  son,  the  afterward  illustrious  Cimon,  Miltiades  dying, 
soon  after  the  trial,  of  the  injury  which  he  had  received  at  Paros. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  35* 

The  melancholy  end  of  Miltiades,  after  his  elevation  to  such 
a  height  of  power  and  glory,  must  often  have  been  recalled  to 
the  minds  of  the  ancient  Greeks  by  the  sight  of  one  in  particu- 
lar of  the  memorials  of  the  great  battle  which  he  won.  This 

was  the  remarkable  statue — minutely  described  by  Pausanias 

which  the  Athenians,  in  the  time  of  Pericles,  caused  to  be 
hewn  out  of  a  huge  block  of  marble,  which,  it  was  believed, 
had  been  provided  by  Datis,  to  form  a  trophy  of  the  antici- 
pated victory  of  the  Persians.  Phidias  fashioned  out  of  this  a 
colossal  image  of  the  goddess  Nemesis,  the  deity  whose  pecul- 
iar function  was  to  visit  the  exuberant  prosperity  both  of 
nations  and  individuals  with  sudden  and  awful  reverses.  This 
statue  was  placed  in  a  temple  of  the  goddess  at  Rhamnus, 
about  eight  miles  from  Marathon.  Athens  itself  contained 
numerous  memorials  of  her  primary  great  victory.  Panenus, 
the  cousin  of  Phidias,  represented  it  in  fresco  on  the  walls  of 
the  painted  porch;  and,  centuries  afterward,  the  figures  of 
Miltiades  and  Callimachus  at  the  head  of  the  Athenians  were 
conspicuous  in  the  fresco.  The  tutelary  deities  were  exhibited 
taking  part  in  the  fray.  In  the  background  were  seen  the 
Phoenician  galleys,  and,  nearer  to  the  spectator,  the  Athenians 
and  the  Plataeans — distinguished  by  their  leather  helmets — 
were  chasing  routed  Asiatics  into  the  marshes  and  the  sea. 
The  battle  was  sculptured  also  on  the  Temple  of  Victory  in 
the  Acropolis,  and  even  now  there  may  be  traced  on  the  frieze 
the  figures  of  the  Persian  combatants  with  their  lunar  shields, 
their  bows  and  quivers,  their  curved  cimeters,  their  loose 
trousers,  and  Phrygian  tiaras. 

These  and  other  memorials  of  Marathon  were  the  produce 
of  the  meridian  age  of  Athenian  intellectual  splendor,  of  the 
age  of  Phidias  and  Pericles;  for  it  was  not  merely  by  the  gen- 
eration whom  the  battle  liberated  from  Hippias  and  the  Medes 
that  the  transcendent  importance  of  their  victory  was  grate- 
fully recognized.  Through  the  whole  epoch  of  her  prosperity, 
through  the  long  Olympiads  of  her  decay,  through  centuries 
after  her  fall,  Athens  looked  back  on  the  day  of  Marathon  as 
the  brightest  of  her  national  existence. 

By  a  natural  blending  of  patriotic  pride  with  grateful  piety, 
the  very  spirits  of  the  Athenians  who  fell  at  Marathon  were 


352  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

deified  by  their  countrymen.  The  inhabitants  of  the  district 
of  Marathon  paid  religious  rites  to  them,  and  orators  solemnly 
invoked  them  in  their  most  impassioned  adjurations  before  the 
assembled  men  of  Athens.  "  Nothing  was  omitted  that  could 
keep  alive  the  remembrance  of  a  deed  which  had  first  taught 
the  Athenian  people  to  know  its  own  strength,  by  measuring 
it  with  the  power  which  had  subdued  the  greater  part  of  the 
known  world.  The  consciousness  thus  awakened  fixed  its 
character,  its  station,  and  its  destiny ;  it  was  the  spring  of  its 
later  great  actions  and  ambitious  enterprises." 

It  was  not  indeed  by  one  defeat,  however  signal,  that  the 
pride  of  Persia  could  be  broken,  and  her  dreams  of  universal 
empire  dispelled.  Ten  years  afterward  she  renewed  her  at- 
tempts upon  Europe  on  a  grander  scale  of  enterprise,  and  was 
repulsed  by  Greece  with  greater  and  reiterated  loss.  Larger 
forces  and  heavier  slaughter  than  had  been  seen  at  Marathon 
signalized  the  conflicts  of  Greeks  and  Persians  at  Artemisium, 
Salamis,  Plataea,  and  the  Eurymedon.  But,  mighty  and  mo- 
mentous as  these  battles  were,  they  rank  not  with  Marathon  in 
importance.  They  originated  no  new  impulse.  They  turned 
back  no  current  of  fate.  They  were  merely  confirmatory 
of  the  already  existing  bias  which  Marathon  had  created. 
The  day  of  Marathon  is  the  critical  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
two  nations.  It  broke  forever  the  spell  of  Persian  invincibility, 
which  had  previously  paralyzed  men's  minds.  It  generated 
among  the  Greeks  the  spirit  which  beat  back  Xerxes,  and 
afterward  led  on  Xenophon,  Agesilaus,  and  Alexander,  in  ter- 
rible retaliation  through  their  Asiatic  campaigns.  It  secured 
for  mankind  the  intellectual  treasures  of  Athens,  the  growth 
of  free  institutions,  the  liberal  enlightenment  of  the  Western 
world,  and  the  gradual  ascendency  for  many  ages  of  the  great 
principles  of  European  civilization. 

EXPLANATORY  REMARKS  ON  SOME  OF  THE  CIRCUMSTANCES 
OF  THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON 

Nothing  is  said  by  Herodotus  of  the  Persian  cavalry  tak- 
ing any  part  in  the  battle,  although  he  mentions  that  Hippias 
recommended  the  Persians  to  land  at  Marathon,  because  the 


THE  BATTLE  OF  MARATHON  353 

plain  was  favorable  for  cavalry  evolutions.  In  the  life  of  Mil- 
tiades  which  is  usually  cited  as  the  production  of  Cornelius 
Nepos,  but  which  I  believe  to  be  of  no  authority  whatever,  it 
is  said  that  Miltiades  protected  his  flanks  from  the  enemy's 
horse  by  an  abatis  of  felled  trees.  While  he  was  on  the  high 
ground  he  would  not  have  required  this  defence,  and  it  is  not 
likely  that  the  Persians  would  have  allowed  him  to  erect  it  on 
the  plain. 

But,  in  truth,  whatever  amount  of  cavalry  we  suppose  Datis 
to  have  had  with  him  on  the  day  of  Marathon,  their  inaction  in 
the  battle  is  intelligible,  if  we  believe  the  attack  of  the  Athe- 
nian spearmen  to  have  been  as  sudden  as  it  was  rapid.  The 
Persian  horse-soldier,  on  an  alarm  being  given,  had  to  take  the 
shackles  off  his  horse,  to  strap  the  saddle  on,  and  bridle  him, 
besides  equipping  himself  (Xenophon),  and  when  each  indi- 
vidual horseman  was  ready,  the  line  had  to  be  formed ;  and  the 
time  that  it  takes  to  form  the  Oriental  cavalry  in  line  for  a 
charge  has,  in  all  ages,  been  observed  by  Europeans. 

The  wet  state  of  the  marshes  at  each  end  of  the  plain,  in 
the  time  of  year  when  the  battle  was  fought,  has  been  adverted 
to  by  Wordsworth,1  and  this  would  hinder  the  Persian  gen- 
eral from  arranging  and  employing  his  horsemen  on  his  ex- 
treme wings,  while  it  also  enabled  the  Greeks,  as  they  came 
forward,  to  occupy  the  whole  breadth  of  the  practicable  ground 
with  an  unbroken  line  of  leveled  spears,  against  which,  if  any 
Persian  horse  advanced,  they  would  be  driven  back  in  confu- 
sion upon  their  own  foot. 

Even  numerous  and  fully  arrayed  bodies  of  cavalry  have 
been  repeatedly  broken,  both  in  ancient  and  modern  warfare, 
by  resolute  charges  of  infantry.  For  instance,  it  was  by  an 
attack  of  some  picked  cohorts  that  Caesar  routed  the  Pompeian 
cavalry— which  had  previously  defeated  his  own— and  won  the 

battle  of  Pharsalia. 

*  Greece. 
H.  E.,  VOL.  L— 33 


INVASION    OF   GREECE   BY   PERSIANS 
UNDER  XERXES 

DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

B.C.  480 

HERODOTUS 

The  invasion  of  Greece  by  Xerxes  is  the  subject  of  the  great  history 
written  in  nine  books  by  Herodotus.  His  object  is  to  show  the  pre- 
eminence of  Greece,  whose  fleets  and  armies  defeated  the  forces  of  the 
Persians  after  these  latter  had  triumphed  over  the  most  powerful  nations 
of  the  earth.  Xerxes  collected  a  vast  army  from  all  parts  of  the  empire. 
The  Phoenicians  furnished  him  with  an  enormous  fleet,  and  he  made  a 
bridge  of  a  double  line  of  boats  across  the  Hellespont  and  cut  a  canal 
through  the  peninsula  of  Mount  Athos.  He  reached  Sardis  in  the  au- 
tumn of  B.C.  481,  and  the  next  year  his  army  crossed  the  bridge  of  boats, 
taking  seven  days  and  seven  nights  for  the  transit.  The  number  of  his 
fighting  men  was  over  two  millions  and  a  hah*.  His  ships  of  war  were 
twelve  hundred  and  seven  in  number,  and  he  had  three  thousand  smaller 
vessels  for  carrying  his  land  forces  and  supplies.  At  the  narrow  pass  of 
Thermopylae,  in  the  northeast  of  Greece,  this  immense  army  was  checked 
for  a  while  by  the  heroic  Leonidas  and  his  three  hundred  Spartans,  who, 
however,  perished  in  their  attempt  to  prevent  the  Persian's  attack  on 
Athens,  which  city  was  almost  entirely  destroyed  by  the  invaders.  The 
sea-fight  of  Salamis  was  won  by  the  Greeks  against  enormous  odds ;  and 
in  the  battle  of  Plataea,  B.C.  479,  the  defeat  of  the  Persians  by  the  Greek 
land  forces  was  made  more  complete  by  the  death  of  Mardonius,  the 
most  renowned  general  of  Xerxes. 

HP  HE  Greeks,  when  they  arrived  at  the  Isthmus,  consulted 
on  the  message  they  had  received  from  Alexander,  in 
what  way  and  in  what  places  they  should  prosecute  the  war. 
The  opinion  which  prevailed  was  that  they  should  defend  the 
pass  at  Thermopylae ;  for  it  appeared  to  be  narrower  than  that 
into  Thessaly,  and  at  the  same  time  nearer  to  their  own  terri- 
tories ;  for  the  path  by  which  the  Greeks  who  were  taken  at 
Thermopylae  were  afterward  surprised,  they  knew  nothing  of, 

354 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYL*:  355 

till,  on  their  arrival  at  Thermopylae,  they  were  informed  of  it 
by  the  Trachinians.  They  accordingly  resolved  to  guard  this 
pass,  and  not  suffer  the  barbarian  to  enter  Greece ;  and  that 
the  naval  force  should  sail  to  Artemisium,  in  the  territory  of 
Histiasotis,  for  these  places  are  near  one  another,  so  that  they 
could  hear  what  happened  to  each  other.  These  spots  are 
thus  situated. 

In  the  first  place,  Artemisium  is  contracted  from  a  wide 
space  of  the  Thracian  sea  into  a  narrow  frith,  which  lies  be- 
tween the  island  of  Sciathus  and  the  continent  of  Magnesia. 
From  the  narrow  frith  begins  the  coast  of  Eubcea,  called  Ar- 
temisium, and  in  it  is  a  temple  of  Diana.  But  the  entrance 
into  Greece  through  Trachis,  in  the  narrowest  part,  is  no  more 
than  a  half  plethrum  in  width :  however,  the  narrowest  part  of 
the  country  is  not  in  this  spot,  but  before  and  behind  Ther- 
mopylae ;  for  near  Alpeni,  which  is  behind,  there  is  only  a  sin- 
gle carriage-road,  and  before,  by  the  river  Phoenix,  near  the 
city  of  Anthela,  is  another  single  carriage-road.  On  the  west- 
ern side  of  Thermopylae  is  an  inaccessible  and  precipitous 
mountain,  stretching  to  Mount  CEta,  and  on  the  eastern  side 
of  the  way  is  the  sea  and  a  morass.  In  this  passage  there  are 
hot  baths,  which  the  inhabitants  call  "  Chytri,"  and  above  these 
is  an  altar  to  Hercules.  A  wall  had  been  built  in  this  pass, 
and  formerly  there  were  gates  in  it.  The  Phocians  built  it 
through  fear,  when  the  Thessalians  came  from  Thesprotia  to 
settle  in  the  yEolian  territory  which  they  now  possess :  appre- 
hending that  the  Thessalians  would  attempt  to  subdue  them, 
the  Phocians  took  this  precaution;  at  the  same  time,  they 
diverted  the  hot  water  into  the  entrance,  that  the  place  might 
be  broken  into  clefts,  having  recourse  to  every  contrivance  to 
prevent  the  Thessalians  from  making  inroads  into  their  coun- 
try. Now  this  old  wall  had  been  built  a  long  time,  and  the 
greater  part  of  it  had  already  fallen  through  age;  but  they 
determined  to  rebuild  it,  and  in  that  place  to  repel  the  barba- 
rian from  Greece.  Very  near  this  road  there  is  a  village  called 
Alpeni;  from  this  the  Greeks  expected  to  obtain  provisions. 

Accordingly,  these  situations  appeared  suitable  for  the 
Greeks;  for  they,  having  weighed  everything  beforehand,  and 
considered  that  the  barbarians  would  neither  be  able  to  use 


356  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

their  numbers  nor  their  cavalry,  there  resolved  to  await  the 
invader  of  Greece.  As  soon  as  they  were  informed  that  the 
Persian  was  in  Pieria,  breaking  up  from  the  Isthmus  some  of 
them  proceeded  by  land  to  Thermopylae,  and  others  by  sea  to 
Artemisium. 

The  Greeks,  therefore,  being  appointed  in  two  divisions, 
hastened  to  meet  the  enemy ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  Del- 
phians,  alarmed  for  themselves  and  for  Greece,  consulted  the 
oracle,  and  the  answer  given  them  was,  "  that  they  should  pray 
to  the  winds,  for  that  they  would  be  powerful  allies  to  Greece." 

The  Delphians,  having  received  the  oracle,  first  of  all  com- 
municated the  answer  to  those  Greeks  who  were  zealous  to  be 
free ;  and  as  they  very  much  dreaded  the  barbarians,  by  giving 
that  message  they  acquired  a  claim  to  everlasting  gratitude. 
After  that,  the  Delphians  erected  an  altar  to  the  winds  at 
Thyia,  where  there  is  an  inclosure  consecrated  to  Thyia, 
daughter  of  Cephisus,  from  whom  this  district  derives  its  name, 
and  conciliated  them  with  sacrifices ;  and  the  Delphians,  in 
obedience  to  that  oracle,  to  this  day  propitiate  the  winds. 

The  naval  force  of  Xerxes,  setting  out  from  the  city  of 
Therma,  advanced  with  ten  of  the  fastest  sailing  ships  straight 
to  Scyathus,  where  were  three  Grecian  ships  keeping  a  look- 
out: a  Troezenian,  an  ^Eginetan,  and  an  Athenian.  These, 
seeing  the  ships  of  the  barbarians  at  a  distance,  betook  them- 
selves to  flight. 

The  Troezenian  ship,  which  Praxinus  commanded,  the  bar- 
barians pursued  and  soon  captured ;  and  then,  having  led  the 
handsomest  of  the  marines  to  the  prow  of  the  ship,  they  slew 
him,  deeming  it  a  good  omen  that  the  first  Greek  they  had 
taken  was  also  very  handsome.  The  name  of  the  man  that 
was  slain  was  Leon,  and  perhaps  he  in  some  measure  reaped 
the  fruits  of  his  name. 

The  ^Eginetan  ship,  which  Asonides  commanded,  gave 
them  some  trouble ;  Pytheas,  son  of  Ischenous,  being  a  marine 
on  board,  a  man  who  on  this  day  displayed  the  most  consum- 
mate valor ;  who,  when  the  ship  was  taken,  continued  fighting 
until  he  was  entirely  cut  to  pieces.  But  when,  having  fallen 
(he  was  not  dead,  but  still  breathed),  the  Persians  who  served 
on  board  the  ships  were  very  anxious  to  save  him  alive,  on 


lips  keeping 


three  hundred  immortai 
ring  for  the  defence , 
opyke.against  (I 
Persian 


'aiming  by  Jacques  L  Dav-3. 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE  357 

account  of  his  valor,  healing  his  wounds  with  myrrh,  and  bind- 
ing them  with  bandages  of  flaxen  cloth;  and  when  they  re- 
turned to  their  own  camp,  they  showed  him  with  admiration 
to  the  whole  army,  and  treated  him  well;  but  the  others,  whom 
they  took  in  this  ship,  they  treated  as  slaves. 

Thus,  then,  two  of  the  ships  were  taken ;  but  the  other, 
which  Phormus,  an  Athenian,  commanded,  in  its  flight  ran 
ashore  at  the  mouth  of  the  Peneus,  and  the  barbarians  got 
possession  of  the  ship,  but  not  of  the  men ;  for  as  soon  as  the 
Athenians  had  run  the  ship  aground,  they  leaped  out,  and, 
proceeding  through  Thessaly,  reached  Athens.  The  Greeks 
who  were  stationed  at  Artemisium  were  informed  of  this  event 
by  signal-fires  from  Sciathus;  and  being  informed  of  it,  and 
very  much  alarmed,  they  retired  from  Artemisium  to  Chalcis, 
intending  to  defend  the  Euripus,  and  leaving  scouts  on  the 
heights  of  Eubcea.  Of  the  ten  barbarian  ships,  three  ap- 
proached the  sunken  rock  called  Myrmex,  between  Sciathus 
and  Magnesia.  Then  the  barbarians,  when  they  had  erected 
on  the  rock  a  stone  column,  which  they  had  brought  with 
them,  set  out  from  Therma,  now  that  every  obstacle  had  been 
removed,  and  sailed  forward  with  all  their  ships,  having  waited 
eleven  days  after  the  king's  departure  from  Therma.  Pam- 
mon,  a  Scyrian,  pointed  out  to  them  this  hidden  rock,  which 
was  almost  directly  in  their  course.  The  barbarians,  sailing 
all  day,  reached  Sepias  in  Magnesia,  and  the  shore  that  lies 
between  the  city  of  Casthanasa  and  the  coast  of  Sepias. 

As  far  as  this  place  and  Thermopylae,  the  army  had 
suffered  no  loss,  and  the  numbers  were  at  that  time,  as  I  find 
by  calculations,  of  the  following  amount:  of  those  in  ships 
from  Asia,  amounting  to  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  seven, 
originally  the  whole  number  of  the  several  nations  was- two 
hundred  forty-one  thousand  four  hundred  men,  allowing  two 
hundred  to  each  ship ;  and  on  these  ships  thirty  Persians, 
Medes,  and  Sacse  served  as  marines,  in  addition  to  the  native 
crews  of  each ;  this  farther  number  amounts  to  thirty-six  thou- 
sand two  hundred  and  ten.  To  this  and  the  former  number  I 
add  those  that  were  on  the  penteconters1  supposing  eighty 
men  on  the  average  to  be  on  board  of  each.  Three  thousand 
1  Fifty-oared  ships. 


358  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

of  these  vessels  were  assembled ;  therefore  the  men  on  board 
them  must  have  been  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand.  This, 
then,  was  the  naval  force  from  Asia,  the  total  being  five  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  thousand  six  hundred  and  ten.  Of  infan- 
try there  were  seventeen  hundred  thousand,  and  of  cavalry 
eighty  thousand;  to  these  I  add  the  Arabians  who  drove 
camels,  and  the  Libyans  who  drove  chariots,  reckoning  the 
number  at  twenty  thousand  men.  Accordingly,  the  numbers 
on  board  the  ships  and  on  the  land,  added  together,  make  up 
two  millions  three  hundred  and  seventeen  thousand  six  hun- 
dred and  ten.  This,  then,  is  the  force  which,  as  has  been  men- 
tioned, was  assembled  from  Asia  itself,  exclusive  of  the  ser- 
vants that  followed,  and  the  provision  ships,  and  the  men  that 
were  on  board  them. 

But  the  force  brought  from  Europe  must  still  be  added 
to  this  whole  number  that  has  been  summed  up ;  but  it  is  nec- 
essary to  speak  by  guess.  Now  the  Grecians  from  Thrace, 
and  the  islands  contiguous  to  Thrace,  furnished  one  hundred 
and  twenty  ships ;  these  ships  give  an  amount  of  twenty-four 
thousand  men.  Of  land-forces,  which  were  furnished  by 
Thracians,  Paeonians,  the  Eordi,  the  Bottiaeans,  the  Chalcidian 
race,  Brygi,  Pierians,  Macedonians,  Perrhaebi,  ^Enianes,  Dolo- 
pians,  Magnesians,  and  Achaeans,  together  with  those  who 
inhabit  the  maritime  parts  of  Thrace — of  these  nations  I  sup- 
pose that  there  were  three  hundred  thousand  men,  so  that 
these  myriads,  added  to  those  from  Asia,  make  a  total  of  two 
millions  six  hundred  and  forty  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  ten 
fighting  men ! 

I  think  that  the  servants  who  followed  them,  and  with 
those  on  board  the  provision  ships  and  other  vessels  that 
sailed  with  the  fleet,  were  not  fewer  than  the  fighting  men,  but 
more  numerous ;  but  supposing  them  to  be  equal  in  number 
to  the  fighting  men,  they  make  up  the  former  number  of 
myriads?  Thus  Xerxes,  son  of  Darius,  led  five  millions  two 
hundred  and  eighty-three  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty 
men  to  Sepias  and  Thermopylae ! 

This,  then,  was  the  number  of  the  whole  force  of  Xerxes. 
But  of  women  who  made  bread,  and  concubines,  and  eunuchs, 
1  In  Greek  numeration,  ten  thousand. 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE  359 

no  one  could  mention  the  number  with  accuracy;  nor  of 
draught-cattle  and  other  beasts  of  burden;  nor  of  Indian  dogs 
that  followed  could  any  one  mention  the  number,  they  were 
so  many;  therefore  I  am  not  astonished  that  the  streams  of 
some  rivers  failed,  but  rather  it  is  a  wonder  to  me  how  provis- 
ions held  out  for  so  many  myriads \  for  I  find  by  calculation, 
if  each  man  had  a  chcenix  of  wheat  daily,  and  no  more,  one 
hundred  and  ten  thousand  three  hundred  and  forty  medimni 
must  have  been  consumed  everyday;  and  I  have  not  reckoned 
the  food  for  the  women,  eunuchs,  beasts  of  burden,  and  dogs. 
But  of  these  myriads  of  men,  not  one  of  them,  for  beauty 
and  stature,  was  more  entitled  than  Xerxes  himself  to  possess 
the  supreme  command. 

When  the  fleet,  having  set  out,  sailed  and  reached  the  shore 
of  Magnesia  that  lies  between  the  city  of  Casthanaea  and  the 
coast  of  Sepias,  the  foremost  of  the  ships  took  up  their  station 
close  to  land,  others  behind  rode  at  anchor — the  beach  not 
being  extensive  enough — with  their  prows  toward  the  sea,  and 
eight  deep.  Thus  they  passed  the  night;  but  at  daybreak, 
after  serene  and  tranquil  weather,  the  sea  began  to  swell,  and  a 
heavy  storm  with  a  violent  gale  from  the  east— which  those  who 
inhabit  these  parts  call  a  "  Hellespontine  " — burst  upon  them ; 
as  many  of  them  then  as  perceived  the  gale  increasing,  and 
who  were  able  to  do  so  from  their  position,  anticipated  the 
storm  by  hauling  their  ships  on  shore,  and  both  they  and  their 
ships  escaped.  But  such  of  the  ships  as  the  storm  caught  at 
sea  it  carried  away,  some  to  the  parts  called  Ipni,  near  Pelion, 
others  to  the  beach ;  some  were  dashed  on  Cape  Sepias  itself ; 
some  were  wrecked  at  Melibcea,  and  others  at  Casthanaea. 
The  storm  was  indeed  irresistible. 

The  barbarians,  when  the  wind  had  lulled  and  the  waves 
had  subsided,  having  hauled  down  their  ships,  sailed  along  the 
continent ;  and  having  doubled  the  promontory  of  Magnesia, 
stood  directly  into  the  bay  leading  to  Pagasae.  There  is  a  spot 
in  this  bay  of  Magnesia  where  it  is  said  Hercules  was  aban- 
doned by  Jason  and  his  companions  when  he  had  been  sent 
from  the  Argo  for  water,  as  they  were  sailing  to  Colchis,  in 
Asia,  for  the  golden  fleece ;  and  from  there  they  purposed  to 
put  out  to  sea  after  they  had  taken  in  water.  From  this  cir- 


36o  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

cumstance,  the  name  of  "  Aphetae  "  was  given  to  the  place.  In 
this  place,  then,  the  fleet  of  Xerxes  was  moored. 

Fifteen  of  these  ships  happened  to  be  driven  out  to  sea 
some  time  after  the  rest,  and  somehow  saw  the  ships  of  the 
Greeks  at  Artemisium.  The  barbarians  thought  that  they  were 
their  own,  and  sailing  on,  fell  among  their  enemies.  They 
were  commanded  by  Sandoces,  son  of  Thaumasius,  governor 
of  Cyme,  of  JEolia.  He,  being  one  of  the  royal  judges,  had 
been  formerly  condemned  by  King  Darius  (who  had  detected 
him  in  the  following  offence),  to  be  crucified.  Sandoces  gave 
an  unjust  sentence,  for  a  bribe ;  but  while  he  was  actually  hang- 
ing on  the  cross,  Darius,  considering  within  himself,  found  that 
the  services  he  had  rendered  to  the  royal  family  were  greater 
than  his  faults.  Darius,  therefore,  having  discovered  this,  and 
perceiving  that  he,  himself,  had  acted  with  more  expedition 
than  wisdom,  released  him.  Having  thus  escaped  being  put 
to  death  by  Darius,  he  survived;  but  now,  sailing  down 
among  the  Grecians,  he  was  not  to  escape  a  second  time ;  for 
when  the  Greeks  saw  them  sailing  toward  them,  perceiving 
the  mistake  they  had  committed,  they  bore  down  upon  them 
and  easily  took  them. 

King  Xerxes  encamped  in  the  Trachinian  territory  of 
Malis,  and  the  Greeks  in  the  pass.  This  spot  is  called  by 
most  of  the  Greeks,  "  Thermopylae,"  but  by  the  inhabitants  and 
neighbors,  "Pylae."  Both  parties,  then,  encamped  in  these 
places.  The  one  was  in  possession  of  all  the  parts  toward  the 
north  as  far  as  Trachis,  and  the  others,  of  the  parts  which 
stretch  toward  the  south  and  meridian  of  this  continent. 

The  following  were  the  Greeks  who  awaited  the  Persians  in 
this  position.  Of  Spartans,  three  hundred  heavy-armed  men ; 
of  Tegeans  and  Mantineans,  one  thousand  (half  of  each) ;  from 
Orchomenus  in  Arcadia,  one  hundred  and  twenty ;  and  from 
the  rest  of  Arcadia,  one  thousand  (there  were  so  many  Arca- 
dians) ;  from  Corinth,  four  hundred ;  from  Phlius,  two  hundred 
men ;  and  from  Mycenae,  eighty.  These  came  from  Pelopon- 
nesus. From  Boeotia,  of  Thespians  seven  hundred;  and  of 
Thebans,  four  hundred. 

In  addition  to  these,  the  Opuntian  Locrians,  being  invited, 
came  with  all  their  forces,  and  a  thousand  Phocians ;  for  the 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE,  361 

Greeks  themselves  had  invited  them,  representing  by  their 
embassadors  that  "they  had  arrived  as  forerunners  of  the 
others,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  allies  might  be  daily  expected ; 
that  the  sea  was  protected  by  them,  being  guarded  by  the 
Athenians,  the  ^Eginetae,  and  others,  who  were  appointed  to 
the  naval  service;  and  that  they  had  nothing  to  fear,  for  that 
it  was  not  a  god  who  invaded  Greece,  but  a  man ;  and  that 
there  never  was,  and  never  would  be,  any  mortal  who  had  not 
evil  mixed  with  his  prosperity  from  his  very  birth,  and  to  the 
greatest  of  them  the  greatest  reverses  happen;  that  it  must 
therefore  needs  be  that  he  who  is  marching  against  us,  being 
a  mortal,  will  be  disappointed  in  his  expectation."  They,  hav- 
ing heard  this,  marched  with  assistance  to  Trachis. 

These  nations  had  separate  generals  for  their  several  cities, 
but  the  one  most  admired,  and  who  commanded  the  whole 
army,  was  a  Lacedaemonian,  Leonidas,  son  of  Anaxandrides, 
son  of  Leon,  son  of  Eurycratides,  son  of  Anaxander,  son  of 
Eurycates,  son  of  Polydorus,  son  of  Alcamenes,  son  of  Tele- 
clus,  son  of  Archelaus,  son  of  Agesilaus,  son  of  Doryssus,  son 
of  Leobotes,  son  of  Echestratus,  son  of  Agis,  son  of  Eurys- 
thenes,  son  of  Aristodemus,  son  of  Aristomachus,  son  of 
Cleodaeus,  son  of  Hyllus,  son  of  Hercules,  who  had  unexpect- 
edly succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Sparta. 

For,  as  he  had  two  elder  brothers,  Cleomenes  and  Dorieus, 
he  was  far  from  any  thought  of  the  kingdom.  However, 
Cleomenes  having  died  without  male  issue,  and  Dorieus  being 
no  longer  alive — having  ended  his  days  in  Sicily — the  kingdom 
thus  devolved  upon  Leonidas ;  both  because  he  was  older  than 
Cleombrotus — for  he  was  the  youngest  son  of  Anaxandrides — 
and  also  because  he  had  married  the  daughter  of  Cleomenes. 
He  then  marched  to  Thermopylae,  having  chosen  the  three 
hundred  men  allowed  by  law,  and  such  as  had  children.  On 
his  march  he  took  with  him  the  Thebans,  whose  numbers  I 
have  already  reckoned,  and  whom  Leontiades,  son  of  Eury- 
machus,  commanded.  For  this  reason  Leonidas  was  anxious 
to  take  with  him  the  Thebans  alone  of  all  the  Greeks,  because 
they  were  strongly  accused  of  favoring  the  Medes :  he  there- 
fore summoned  them  to  the  war,  wishing  to  know  whether 
they  would  send  their  forces  with  him,  or  would  openly 


362  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

renounce  the  alliance  of  the  Grecians ;  but  they,  though  other« 
wise  minded,  sent  assistance. 

The  Spartans  sent  these  troops  first  with  Leonidas,  in 
order  that  the  rest  of  the  allies,  seeing  them,  might  take  the 
field,  and  might  not  go  over  to  the  Medes  if  they  heard  that 
they  were  delaying;  but  afterward — for  the  Carnean  festival 
was  then  an  obstacle  to  them — they  purposed,  when  they  had 
kept  the  feast,  to  leave  a  garrison  in  Sparta  and  to  march 
immediately  with  their  whole  strength.  The  rest  of  the  con- 
federates  likewise  intended  to  act  in  the  same  manner;  for  the 
Olympic  games  occurred  at  the  same  period  as  these  events. 
As  they  djd  not,  therefore,  suppose  that  the  engagement  at 
Thermopylae  woulrl  so  soon  be  decided,  they  despatched  an 
advance-guard. 

The  Greeks  at  Thermopylae,  when  the  Persians  came  near 
the  pass,  being  alarmed,  consulted  about  a  retreat ;  accordingly, 
it  seemed  best  to  the  other  Peloponnesians  to  retire  to  Pelo- 
ponnesus, and  guard  the  Isthmus;  but  Leonidas,  perceiving 
the  Phocians  and  Locrians  were  very  indignant  at  this  propo- 
sition, determined  to  stay  there,  and  to  despatch  messengers 
to  the  cities,  desiring  them  to  come  to  their  assistance,  they 
being  too  few  to  repel  the  army  of  the  Medes. 

While  they  were  deliberating  on  these  matters,  Xerxes 
sent  a  scout  on  horseback,  to  see  how  many  they  were  and 
what  they  were  doing ;  for  while  he  was  still  in  Thessaly,  he 
had  heard  that  a  small  army  had  been  assembled  at  that  spot, 
and  as  to  their  leaders,  that  they  were  Lacedaemonians,  and 
Leonidas,  who  was  of  the  race  of  Hercules.  When  the  horse- 
man rode  up  to  the  camp,  he  reconnoitred,  and  saw  not  indeed 
the  whole  camp,  for  it  was  not  possible  that  they  should  be 
seen  who  were  posted  within  the  wall,  which  having  rebuilt 
they  were  now  guarding;  but  he  had  a  clear  view  of  those  on 
the  outside,  whose  arms  were  piled  in  front  of  the  wall.  At 
this  time  the  Lacedaemonians  happened  to  be  posted  outside ; 
and  some  of  the  men  he  saw  performing  gymnastic  exercises, 
and  others  combing  their  hair.  On  beholding  this  he  was 
astonished,  and  ascertained  their  number,  and  having  in- 
formed himself  of  everything  accurately,  he  rode  back  at  his 
leisure,  for  no  one  pursued  him  and  he  met  with  general  con- 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE  363 

tempt.  On  his  return  he  gave  an  account  to  Xerxes  of  all  that 
he  had  seen. 

When  Xerxes  heard  this,  he  could  not  comprehend  the 
truth  that  the  Grecians  were  preparing  to  be  slain  and  to  slay 
to  the  utmost  of  their  power;  but,  as  they  appeared  to 
behave  in  a  ridiculous  manner,  he  sent  for  Demaratus,  son  of 
Ariston,  who  was  then  in  the  camp,  and  when  he  was  come 
into  his  presence  Xerxes  questioned  him  as  to  each  particular, 
wishing  to  understand  what  the  Lacedaemonians  were  doing. 
Demaratus  said :  "  You  before  heard  me  when  we  were  setting 
out  against  Greece,  speak  of  these  men,  and  when  you  heard, 
you  treated  me  with  ridicule  though  I  told  you  in  what  way 
I  foresaw  these  matters  would  issue ;  for  it  is  my  chief  aim,  O 
king,  to  adhere  to  the  truth  in  your  presence ;  hear  it,  there- 
fore, once  more.  These  men  have  to  fight  with  us  for  the 
pass  and  are  now  preparing  themselves  to  do  so;  for  such  is 
their  custom  when  they  are  going  to  hazard  their  lives,  then 
they  dress  their  heads ;  but  be  assured  if  you  conquer  these 
men  and  those  that  remain  in  Sparta,  there  is  no  other  nation 
in  the  world  that  will  dare  to  raise  its  hand  against  you,  O 
king !  for  you  are  now  to  engage  with  the  noblest  kingdom  and 
city  of  all  among  the  Greeks  and  with  the  most  valiant  men." 
What  was  said  seemed  incredible  to  Xerxes  and  he  asked 
again,  "  how,  being  so  few  in  number,  they  could  contend  with 
his  army."  He  answered :  "  O  king,  deal  with  me  as  with  a 
liar  if  these  things  do  not  turn  out  as  I  say !" 

By  saying  this  he  did  not  convince  Xerxes.  He  therefore 
let  four  days  pass,  constantly  expecting  that  they  would  be 
taking  themselves  to  flight;  but  on  the  fifth  day,  as  they  had 
not  retreated,  but  appeared  to  him  to  stay  through  arrogance 
and  rashness,  he,  being  enraged,  sent  the  Medes  and  Cissians 
against  them,  with  orders  to  take  them  alive,  and  bring  them 
into  his  presence.  When  the  Medes  bore  down  impetuously 
upon  the  Greeks,  many  of  them  fell;  others  followed  to  the 
charge,  and  were  not  repulsed,  though  they  suffered  greatly; 
but  they  made  it  evident  to  every  one,  and  not  least  of  all  to 
the  king  himself,  that  they  were  indeed  many  men,  but  few 
soldiers.  The  engagement  lasted  through  the  day. 

When  the  Medes  were  roughly  handled,  they  thereupon 


364  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

retired,  and  the  Persians  whom  the  king  called  "  Immortal/' 
and  whom  Hydarnes  commanded,  taking  their  place  advanced 
to  the  attack  thinking  that  they  indeed  would  easily  settle  the 
business.  But  when  they  engaged  with  the  Grecians  they  suc- 
ceeded no  better  than  the  Medic  troops,  but  just  the  same ;  as 
they  fought  in  a  narrow  space  and  used  shorter  spears  than 
the  Greeks,  they  were  unable  to  avail  themselves  of  their  num- 
bers. The  Lacedaemonians  fought  memorably  in  other  re* 
spects,  showing  that  they  knew  how  to  fight  with  men  who 
knew  not,  and  whenever  they  turned  their  backs  they  retreated 
in  close  order,  but  the  barbarians,  seeing  them  retreat,  followed 
with  a  shout  and  clamor ;  then  they,  being  overtaken,  wheeled 
round  so  as  to  front  the  barbarians,  and  having  faced  about, 
overthrew  an  inconceivable  number  of  the  Persians,  and  then 
some  few  of  the  Spartans  themselves  fell,  so  that  when  the 
Persians  were  unable  to  gain  anything  in  their  attempt  on  the 
pass  by  attacking  in  troops  and  in  every  possible  manner,  they 
retired. 

It  is  said  that  during  these  onsets  of  the  battle,  the  king, 
who  witnessed  them,  thrice  sprang  from  his  throne,  being 
alarmed  for  his  army.  Thus  they  strove  at  that  time.  On  the 
following  day  the  barbarians  fought  with  no  better  success ; 
for  considering  that  the  Greeks  were  few  in  number,  and  ex- 
pecting that  they  were  covered  with  wounds  and  would  not  be 
able  to  raise  their  heads  against  them  any  more,  they  renewed 
the  contest.  But  the  Greeks  were  marshalled  in  companies 
and  according  to  their  several  nations,  and  each  fought  in  turn, 
except  only  the  Phocians ;  they  were  stationed  at  the  moun- 
tain to  guard  the  pathway.  When,  therefore,  the  Persians  found 
nothing  different  from  what  they  had  seen  on  the  preceding 
day,  they  retired. 

While  the  king  was  in  doubt  what  course  to  take  in  the 
present  state  of  affairs,  Ephialtes,  son  of  Eurydemus,  a 
Malian,  obtained  an  audience  of  him  (expecting  that  he  should 
receive  a  great  reward  from  the  king),  and  informed  him  of  the 
path  which  leads  over  the  mountain  to  Thermopylae,  and  by 
that  means  caused  the  destruction  of  those  Greeks  who  were 
stationed  there ;  but  afterward,  fearing  the  Lacedaemonians,  he 
fled  to  Thessaly,  and  when  he  had  fled,  a  price  was  set  on  his 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE  36* 

head  by  the  Pylagori  when  the  Amphictyons  were  assembled 
at  Pylae ;  but  some  time  after,  he  went  down  to  Anticyra  and 
was  killed  by  Athenades,  a  Trachinian, 

Another  account  is  given,  that  Onetes,  son  of  Phanagoras, 
a  Carystian,  and  Corydallus  of  Anticyra,  were  the  persons  who 
gave  this  information  to  the  king  and  conducted  the  Persians 
round  the  mountains ;  but  to  me,  this  is  by  no  means  credible ; 
for,  in  the  first  place,  we  may  draw  the  inference  from  this 
circumstance,  that  the  Pylagori  of  the  Grecians  set  a  price  on 
the  head,  not  of  Onetes  and  Corydallus,  but  of  Ephialtes  the 
Trachinian,  having  surely  ascertained  the  exact  truth ;  and,  in 
the  next  place,  we  know  that  Ephialtes  fled  on  that  account 
Onetes,  indeed,  though  he  was  not  a  Malian,  might  be  ac- 
quainted with  this  path  if  he  had  been  conversant  with  the 
country;  but  it  was  Ephialtes  who  conducted  them  round 
the  mountain  by  the  path,  and  I  charge  him  as  the  guilty 
person 

Xerxes,  since  he  was  pleased  with  what  Ephialtes  promised 
to  perform,  being  exceedingly  delighted,  immediately  de- 
spatched Hydarnes  and  the  troops  that  Hydarnes  commanded, 
and  he  started  from  the  camp  about  the  hour  of  lamp-lighting. 
The  native  Malians  discovered  this  pathway,  and  having  dis- 
covered it,  conducted  the  Thessalians  by  it  against  the  Pho- 
cians  at  the  time  when  the  Phocians,  having  fortified  the  pass 
by  a  wall,  were  under  shelter  from  an  attack.  From  that  time 
it  appeared  to  have  been  of  no  service  to  the  Malians. 

This  path  is  situated  as  follows :  it  begins  from  the  river 
Asopus,  which  flows  through  the  cleft ;  the  same  name  is 
given  both  to  the  mountain  and  to  the  path,  "Anopaea,"  and 
this  Anopsea  extends  along  the  ridge  of  the  mountain  and 
ends  near  Alpenus,  which  is  the  first  city  of  the  Locrians 
toward  the  Malians,  and  by  the  rock  called  "  Melampygus,"  and 
by  the  seats  of  the  Cercopes,  and  there  the  path  is  the  nar- 
rowest. 

Along  this  path,  thus  situate,  the  Persians,  having  crossed 
the  Asopus,  marched  all  night,  having  on  their  right  the 
mountains  of  the  GErzeans,  and  on  their  left  those  of  the 
Trachinians;  morning  appeared,  and  they  were  on  the  summit 
of  the  mountain  At  this  part  of  the  mountain,  as  I  have 


366  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

already  mentioned,  a  thousand  heavy-armed  Phocians  kept 
guard,  to  defend  their  own  country  and  to  secure  the  path- 
way— for  the  lower  pass  was  guarded  by  those  before  men- 
tioned— and  the  Phocians  had  voluntarily  promised  Leonidas 
to  guard  the  path  across  the  mountain. 

The  Phocians  discovered  them  after  they  had  ascended,  in 
the  following  manner;  for  the  Persian  ascended  without  being 
observed,  as  the  whole  mountain  was  covered  with  oaks ;  there 
was  a  perfect  calm,  and,  as  was  likely,  a  considerable  rustling 
taking  place  from  the  leaves  strewn  under  foot,  the  Phocians 
sprang  up  and  put  on  their  arms,  and  immediately  the  barba- 
rians made  their  appearance.  But  when  they  saw  men  clad 
in  armor  they  were  astonished,  for,  expecting  to  find  nothing 
to  oppose  them,  they  fell  in  with  an  army;  thereupon  Hy- 
darnes,  fearing  lest  the  Phocians  might  be  Lacedaemonians, 
asked  Ephialtes  of  what  nation  the  troops  were,  and  being 
accurately  informed,  he  drew  up  the  Persians  for  battle.  The 
Phocians,  when  they  were  hit  by  many  and  thick-falling  arrows, 
fled  to  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  supposing  that  they  had 
come  expressly  to  attack  them,  and  prepared  to  perish.  Such 
was  their  determination.  But  the  Persians,  with  Ephialtes 
and  Hydarnes,  took  no  notice  of  the  Phocians  but  marched 
down  the  mountain  with  all  speed. 

To  those  of  the  Greeks  who  were  at  Thermopylae,  the  augur 
Megistias,  having  inspected  the  sacrifices,  first  made  known 
the  death  that  would  befall  them  in  the  morning ;  certain  de- 
serters afterward  came  and  brought  intelligence  of  the  circuit 
the  Persians  were  taking.  These  brought  the  news  while  it 
was  yet  night ;  and,  thirdly,  the  scouts  running  down  from  the 
heights  as  soon  as  day  dawned,  brought  the  same  intelligence. 
Upon  this  the  Greeks  held  a  consultation,  and  their  opinions 
were  divided ;  some  would  not  hear  of  abandoning  their  post, 
and  others  opposed  that  view.  After  this,  when  the  assembly 
broke  up,  some  of  them  departed,  and  being  dispersed,  betook 
themselves  to  their  several  cities ;  but  others  of  them  prepared 
to  remain  there  with  Leonidas. 

It  is  said  that  Leonidas  himself  sent  them  away,  being  anx- 
ious that  they  should  not  perish,  but  that  he  and  the  Spartans 
who  were  there  could  not  honorably  desert  the  post  which 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE  367 

they  originally  came  to  defend.  For  my  own  part,  I  am  rather 
inclined  to  think  that  Leonidas,  when  he  perceived  that  the 
allies  were  averse  and  unwilling  to  share  the  danger  with  him, 
bade  them  withdraw,  but  that  he  considered  it  dishonorable 
for  himself  to  depart;  on  the  other  hand,  by  remaining  there, 
great  renown  would  be  left  for  him  and  the  prosperity  of 
Sparta  would  not  be  obliterated,  for  it  had  been  announced  to 
the  Spartans  by  the  Pythian,  when  they  consulted  the  oracle 
concerning  this  war  as  soon  as  it  commenced,  "  that  either 
Lacedaemon  must  be  overthrown  by  the  barbarians,  or  their 
king  perish."  This  answer  she  gave  in  hexameter  verses,  to 
this  effect :  "  To  you,  O  inhabitants  of  spacious  Lacedasmon ! 
either  your  vast  glorious  city  shall  be  destroyed  by  men 
sprung  from  Perseus,  or,  if  not  so,  the  confines  of  Lacedaemon 
shall  mourn  a  king  deceased,  of  the  race  of  Hercules.  For 
neither  shall  the  strength  of  bulls  nor  of  lions  withstand  him  with 
force  opposed  to  force,  for  he  has  the  strength  of  Jove,  and  I 
say  he  shall  not  be  restrained  before  he  has  certainly  obtained 
one  of  these  for  his  share."  I  think,  therefore,  that  Leonidas, 
considering  these  things  and  being  desirous  to  acquire  glory 
for  the  Spartans  alone,  sent  away  the  allies,  rather  than  that 
those  who  went  away  differed  in  opinion,  and  went  away  in 
such  an  unbecoming  manner. 

The  following  in  no  small  degree  strengthens  my  conviction 
on  this  point;  for  not  only  did  he  send  away  the  others,  but  it 
is  certain  that  Leonidas  also  sent  away  the  augur  who  followed 
the  army,  Megistias  the  Acarnanian,  who  was  said  to  have 
been  originally  descended  from  Melampus,  the  same  who  an- 
nounced, from  an  inspection  of  the  victims,  what  was  about  to 
befall  them,  in  order  that  he  might  not  perish  with  them.  He 
however,  though  dismissed,  did  not  himself  depart  but  sent 
away  his  son  who  served  with  him  in  the  expedition,  being  his 
only  child. 

The  allies  that  were  dismissed,  accordingly  departed,  and 
obeyed  Leonidas,  but  only  the  Thespians  and  the  Thebans 
remained  with  the  Lacedaemonians;  the  Thebans,  indeed,  re- 
mained unwillingly  and  against  their  inclination,  for  Leonidas 
detained  them,  treating  them  as  hostages;  but  the  Thespians 
willingly,  for  they  refused  to  go  away  and  abandon  Leonidas 


368  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

and  those  with  him,  but  remained  and  died  with  them.  De 
mophilus,  son  of  Diadromas,  commanded  them. 

Xerxes,  after  he  had  poured  out  libations  at  sunrise,  having 
waited  a  short  time,  began  his  attack  about  the  time  of  full 
market,  for  he  had  been  so  instructed  by  Ephialtes ;  for  the 
descent  from  the  mountain  is  more  direct  and  the  distance 
much  shorter  than  the  circuit  and  ascent.  The  barbarians, 
therefore,  with  Xerxes,  advanced,  and  the  Greeks  with  Leo- 
nidas,  marching  out  as  if  for  certain  death,  now  advanced  much 
farther  than  before  into  the  wide  part  of  the  defile,  for  the 
fortification  of  the  wall  had  protected  them,  and  they  on 
the  preceding  days,  having  taken  up  their  position  in  the  nar- 
row part,  fought  there ;  but  now  engaging  outside  the  narrows, 
great  numbers  of  the  barbarians  fell ;  for  the  officers  of  the 
companies  from  behind,  having  scourges,  flogged  every  man, 
constantly  urging  them  forward;  in  consequence,  many  of 
them,  falling  into  the  sea,  perished,  and  many  more  were 
trampled  alive  under  foot  by  one  another  and  no  regard 
was  paid  to  any  that  perished,  for  the  Greeks,  knowing  that 
death  awaited  them  at  the  hands  of  those  who  were  going 
round  the  mountain,  being  desperate  and  regardless  of  their 
own  lives,  displayed  the  utmost  possible  valor  against  the 
barbarians. 

Already  were  most  of  their  javelins  broken  and  they  had 
begun  to  despatch  the  Persians  with  their  swords.  In  this  part 
of  the  struggle  fell  Leonidas,  fighting  valiantly,  and  with  him 
other  eminent  Spartans,  whose  names,  seeing  they  were  de- 
serving men,  I  have  ascertained ;  indeed,  I  have  ascertained 
the  names  of  the  whole  three  hundred.  On  the  side  of  the 
Persians  also,  many  other  eminent  men  fell  on  this  occasion, 
and  among  them  two  sons  of  Darius,  Abrocomes  and  Hyper- 
anthes,  born  to  Darius  of  Phrataguna,  daughter  of  Artanes; 
but  Artanes  was  brother  to  king  Darius,  and  son  of  Hystaspes, 
son  of  Arsames.  He,  when  he  gave  his  daughter  to  Darius, 
gave  him  also  all  his  property,  as  she  was  his  only  child. 

Accordingly,  two  brothers  of  Xerxes  fell  at  this  spot  fight- 
ing for  the  body  of  Leonidas,  and  there  was  a  violent  struggle 
between  the  Persians  and  Lacedaemonians,  until  at  last  the 
Greeks  rescued  it  by  their  valor  and  four  times  repulsed  the 


DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE  369 

enemy.  Thus  the  contest  continued  until  those  with  Ephi- 
altes  came  up.  When  the  Greeks  heard  that  they  were  ap- 
proaching, from  this  time  the  battle  was  altered;  for  they 
retreated  to  the  narrow  part  of  the  way,  and  passing  beyond 
the  wall  came  and  took  up  their  position  on  the  rising  ground 
all  in  a  compact  body  with  the  exception  of  the  Thebans. 
The  rising  ground  is  at  the  entrance  where  the  stone  lion  now 
stands  to  the  memory  of  Leonidas.  On  this  spot,  while  they 
defended  themselves  with  swords — such  as  had  them  still 
remaining — and  with  hands  and  teeth,  the  barbarians  over- 
whelmed them  with  missiles,  some  of  them  attacking  them  in 
front,  having  thrown  down  the  wall,  and  others  surrounding 
and  attacking  them  on  every  side. 

Though  the  Lacedaemonians  and  Thespians  behaved  in 
this  manner,  yet  Dieneces,  a  Spartan,  is  said  to  have  been  the 
bravest  man.  They  relate  that  he  made  the  following  remark 
before  they  engaged  with  the  Medes,  having  heard  a  Tra- 
chinian  say  that  when  the  barbarians  let  fly  their  arrows  they 
would  obscure  the  sun  by  the  multitude  of  their  shafts,  so 
great  was  their  number ;  but  he,  not  at  all  alarmed  at  this, 
said,  holding  in  contempt  the  numbers  of  the  Medes,  that 
"  their  Trachinian  friend  told  them  everything  to  their  advan- 
tage, since  if  the  Medes  obscure  the  sun,  they  would  then  have 
to  fight  in  the  shade  and  not  in  the  sun."  This,  and  other 
sayings  of  the  same  kind,  they  relate  that  Dieneces  the  Lace- 
daemonian left  as  memorials. 

Next  to  him,  two  Lacedaemonian  brothers,  Alpheus  and 
Maron,  sons  of  Orisiphantus,  are  said  to  have  distinguished 
themselves  most;  and  of  the  Thespians,  he  obtained  the 
greatest  glory  whose  name  was  Dithyrambus,  son  of  Har- 
matides. 

In  honor  of  the  slain,  who  were  buried  on  the  spot  where 
they  fell,  and  of  those  who  died  before  they  who  were  dis- 
missed by  Leonidas  went  away,  the  following  inscription  has 
been  engraved  over  them :  "  Four  thousand  from  Peloponnesus 
once  fought  on  this  spot  with  three  hundred  myriads  !  "  >  This 
inscription  was  made  for  all;  and  for  the  Spartans  in  partic- 
ular: "Stranger,  go  tell  the  Lacedaemonians  that  we  lie  here, 

1  Three  millions. 
E.,  VOL.  I. — 


370  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPYLAE 

obedient  to  their  commands ! "  This  was  for  the  Lacedaemo- 
nians; and  for  the  prophet,  the  following:  "This  is  the  monu- 
ment of  the  illustrious  Megistias,  whom  once  the  Medes, 
having  passed  the  river  Sperchius,  slew ;  a  prophet  who,  at  the 
time  well  knowing  the  impending  fate,  would  not  abandon  the 
leaders  of  Sparta ! " 

The  Amphictyons  are  the  persons  who  honored  them  with 
these  inscriptions  and  columns,  with  the  exception  of  the  in- 
scription to  the  prophet ;  that  of  the  prophet  Megistias,  Simon- 
ides,  son  of  Leoprepes,  caused  to  be  engraved,  from  personal 
friendship. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF    UNIVERSAL 
HISTORY 

EMBRACING  THE  PERIOD   COVERED   IN  THIS  VOLUME 

B.C.  5867-B.c.  451 


JOHN    RUDD,    LL.D. 


CHRONOLOGY    OF    UNIVERSAL 
HISTORY 

EMBRACING  THE  PERIOD  COVERED  IN  THIS  VOLUME 
B.C.  586;-B.c.  451 

JOHN   RUDD,    LL.D. 

Events  treated  at  length  are  here  indicated  in  large 
type  ;  the  numerals  following  give  volume  and  page. 

Separate  chronologies  of  the  various  nations,  and  of 
the  careers  of  famous  persons,  will  be  found  in  the  INDEX 
VOLUME,  with  volume  and  page  references  showing  where 
the  several  events  are  fully  treated. 

All  dates  are  approximate  up  to  B.C.  776,  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Olympiads. 

B.C. 

5867.  Menes,  the  first  human  ruler  recorded  in  history,  unites  the  two 
kingdoms  of  Egypt  under  one  crown ;  introduces  the  cult  of  Apis ;  founds 
the  city  of  Memphis;  rears  the  great  temple  of  Ptah.  See  "  DAWN  OF 
CIVILIZATION,"  5,  i. 

5000.  Babylonia  is  invaded  by  a  race  of  Semites;  they  conquer  the 
land  and  become  the  Babylonians  of  history. 

4500  (before).  A  patesi  (priest-ruler),  by  name  En-shag-kush-anna,  is 
King  of  Kengi,  Southern  Babylonia ;  Sungir,  which  later  gave  the  name 
Sumer  to  the  whole  district,  is  his  capital. 

4400.  Shirpurla,  Mesopotamia,  subjugated  by  Mesilim,  King  of  Kish. 

4200.  The  hero  of  Shirpurla,  E-anna-tum,  throws  off  the  Kish  yoke 
and  takes  the  title  of  king.  He  is  successful  in  conflicts  with  Erech,  Ur, 
and  Larsa.  Walls  are  erected  and  canals  dug  by  him. 

3700.  The  great  Pyramid  of  Gizeh  erected.  This  was  during  the  IV 
or  Pyramid  dynasty;  so  called  because  its  chief  monarchs  built  the  three 
great  pyramids. 

Beautiful  Queen  Nitocris,  of  the  VI  dynasty,  reigned  about  this  time. 
She  is  said  to  have  avenged  the  killing  of  her  brother,  King  of  Egypt,  by 
inviting  his  murderers  to  a  banquet  held  in  a  subterranean  chamber.  Into 
this  the  river  was  turned,  and  they  all  miserably  perished. 

3000.  Nineveh,  colonized  from  Babylonia,  ruled  by  subject  princes  of 
that  country. 

2800.  Probable  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  Chinese  empire. 

373 


374    CHRONOLOGY  OF   UNIVERSAL   HISTORY 

2500.  Rise  of  the  kingdom  of  Elam.  Asshurbanipal  (Sardanapalus), 
King  of  Nineveh,  records  an  invasion  of  Chaldaea,  or  Babylonia,  by  the 
Elamites,  B.C.  2300.  The  records  of  clay  recently  unearthed  show  that 
Cyrus  was  originally  king  of  Elam.  See  "  CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE 
GREAT,"  i,  250. 

2458.  Zoroaster  (Zarathushtra)  founds  the  religion  known  by  his  name. 
Ancient  tradition  has  it  that  he  was  a  Median  king  who  conquered  Baby- 
lon about  B.C.  2458.  M.  Haug  assigns  the  date  as  not  later  than  B.C.  2300. 
Be  the  time  when  he  lived  what  it  may,  it  is  certain  that,  as  the  Per- 
sian national  religion,  it  dates  little  further  back  than  B.C.  559  and  up 
to  A.D.  641.  The  four  elements — fire,  air,  earth,  and  water,  especially  the 
first— were  recognized  as  the  only  proper  objects  of  human  reverence. 

2300.  A  chart  of  the  heavens  in  China. 

2250.  Commencement  of  the  reign  of  Hammurabi,  King  of  Babylonia ; 
the  earliest  compilation  of  a  code  of  laws  was  made  in  this  reign.  See 
"COMPILATION  OF  THE  EARLIEST  CODE,"  i,  14. 

2200-1700.  Dominion  of  the  Hyksos,  or  Shepherd  kings,  in  Egypt. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  Abraham  made  his  well-known  journey  to 
Egypt  during  the  early  reign  of  these  kings.  Joseph's  visit  occurred 
near  the  close  of  their  power. 

2200.  Hereditary  monarchy  founded  in  China. 

1700-1250.  The  new  empire  of  Egypt  attains  the  period  of  its  greatest 
splendor  and  power.  Meneptah,  about  1320  (1322),  has  been  generally 
accepted  as  the  Pharaoh  of  the  Exodus. 

1500.  Independence  of  Assyria  as  the  rising  of  a  kingdom  apart  from 
Babylonia;  the  rise  of  Nineveh. 

1450-1300.  The  Hittite  realm  in  Syria  attains  its  greatest  power.  The 
Egyptians  knew  the  Hittites  as  the  Khita  or  Khatta.  Recent  discoveries 
indicate  that  they  formed  a  civilized  and  powerful  nation.  Many  inscrip- 
tions and  rock  sculptures  in  Asia  Minor,  formerly  inexplicable,  are  now 
attributed  to  the  Hittites  of  the  Bible. 

1330.  Rameses  II  of  Egypt;  the  Sesostris  of  the  Greeks. 

1300.  Shalmaneser  I  reigns  in  Assyria. 

1250.  The  Phoenicians,  closely  allied  in  language  to  the  Hebrews,  be- 
gin their  colonizing  career. 

1235.  Probable  date  of  the  consolidation  of  Athens.  See  "  THESEUS 
FOUNDS  ATHENS,"  i,  45. 

1200.  Exodus  of  Israel  from  Egypt. 

"  FORMATION  OF  THE  CASTES  IN  INDIA."    See  i,  52. 

1184.  TALL  OF  TROY."    See  i,  70. 

1 122.  Wou  Wang  becomes  emperor  of  China. 

xi2o.  Beginning  of  the  reign  of  Tiglath-Pileser,  King  of  Assyria. 

i  loo.  Dorian  migration  into  the  Peloponnesus. 

1095  (1055;  1080  common  chronology).  Hebrews  establish  the  mon- 
archy. Saul  the  first  king. 

1058  (1033).  At  Gilboa,  Saul  is  defeated  by  the  Philistines.  David  be- 
comes king  in  Judah. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  UNIVERSAL   HISTORY    375 

1017  (998).  Accession  of  Solomon  as  king  of  the  Hebrews.  The 
Temple  at  Jerusalem  is  built  in  this  reign.  See  "  ACCESSION  OF  SOLO- 
MON," i,  92. 

1015.  Smyrna  founded. 

977  (953)-  Israel  and  Judah  become  separate  kingdoms,  following  the 
revolt  of  the  Ten  Tribes  under  Jeroboam. 

973  (949)-  Jerusalem  captured  by  Sheshonk,  King  of  Egypt. 

958  (929).  Asa  ascends  the  throne  of  Judah. 

931  (899).  Omri's  accession  in  Israel. 

9i7  (873)-  Jehoshaphat  begins  his  reign  in  Judah. 

9°o  (853).  The  Syrians  defeat  and  slay  Ahab,  King  of  Israel,  at  Ra- 
moth-Gilead. 

Divambar  conquers  Armenia,  Persia,  Syria,  and  adjacent  lands. 

887  (843).  The  throne  of  Israel  usurped  by  Jehu. 

850.  The  Tyrians  colonize  Carthage. 

8n  (792).  Uzziah  succeeds  to  the  throne  of  Judah. 

800.  The  canal  and  tunnel  of  Negoub  constructed  to  convey  the  wa- 
ters of  the  Zab  River  to  Nineveh. 

800  (850).  Sparta :  Probable  date  of  the  legislation  of  Lycurgus. 

790  (825).  Jeroboam  II  becomes  King  of  Israel. 

789.  First  destruction  of  Nineveh:  death  of  Sardanapalus.  See 
"  FIRST  DESTRUCTION  OF  NINEVEH,"  i,  105. 

776.  Beginning  of  the  Olympiads.  Olympiad  in  ancient  Greece  meant 
the  space  of  four  years  between  one  celebration  of  the  Olympic  games 
and  another.  In  this  year  it  began  as  a  system  of  chronology. 

772*  (748).  End  of  Jehu's  dynasty  in  Israel. 

753  (common  chronology).     "FOUNDATION  OF  ROME."    See  i,  116. 

750.*  The  Corinthians  found  Syracuse. 

743-724.  First  great  war  between  Sparta  and  Messenia :  the  latter  is 
subjugated. 

734-*  Syria  becomes  subject  to  Tiglath-Pileser  II  of  Assyria. 

731.*  Tiglath-Pileser  II  subjects  Chaldea. 

727*  (728).  Hezekiah  ascends  the  throne  of  Judah. 

722.*  King  Sargon  of  Assyria  conquers  Samaria;  he  puts  an  end  to 
the  kingdom  of  Israel.  Captivity  of  the  Ten  Tribes. 

701.  Siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Sennacherib;  he  encounters  the  Egyptian 
and  Ethiopian  forces;  his  expedition  into  Syria  fails. 

697.  Accession  of  Manasseh  to  the  throne  of  Judah. 

685-668.  The  second  war  between  Sparta  and  Messenia. 

660.*  Prince  Jimmu  establishes  Yamato  as  the  capital  of  Japan.  See 
"  PRINCE  JIMMU  FOUNDS  JAPAN'S  CAPITAL,"  i,  140. 

650.*  The  whole  of  Egypt  united  under  Psammetichus  I,  founder  of 
the  XXVI  dynasty.  He  frees  Egypt  from  Assyrian  rule  and  opens  the 
country  to  the  Greeks. 

645-628.  The  Messenians  make  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to  throw  off 
the  yoke  of  Sparta. 

*  Date  uncertain. 


376     CHRONOLOGY  OF  UNIVERSAL  HISTORY 

640.  Birth  of  Thales,  one  of  the  Seven  Wise  Men  of  Greece.  He  taught 
the  spherical  form  of  the  earth  and  the  truecauses  of  lunar  eclipses ;  dis- 
covered the  electricity  of  amber.  The  Seven  Sages,  or  Wise  Men,  are 
commonly  made  up  of  Thales,  Solon,  Bias,  Chilo,  Cleobulus,  Periander, 
and  Pittacus. 

Media  becomes  independent  of  Assyria ;  she  appears  as  a  single  united 
kingdom. 

625.  Media,  Assyria,  and  Syria  have  a  great  irruption  of  Scythians  in 
their  borders. 

633.  "  FOUNDATION  OF  BUDDHISM."    See  i,  160. 

621*  (624).  Date  of  the  legislation  of  Draco,  at  Athens. 

612.  Conspiracy  of  Cylon  at  Athens. 

609.*  Josiah  is  slain  at  Megiddo,  when  Necho,  the  Egyptian  King, 
crushes  the  power  of  Judah. 

607.*  Nineveh  taken  by  the  Medes  and  Babylonians,  who  overthrow 
the  Assyrian  monarchy. 

605.*  Nebuchadnezzar  defeats  Necho  at  Carchemish.  Necho  main- 
tained a  powerful  fleet;  the  Phoenician  ships  under  his  order  rounded  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Herodotus  says  that  twice  during  this  voyage  the 
crews,  fearing  a  lack  of  food,  after  landing,  drew  their  ships  on  shore, 
sowed  grain  and  waited  for  a  harvest.  It  will  be  noticed  that  this  was 
over  two  thousand  years  before  Vasco  da  Gama,  to  whom  is  usually 
given  the  credit  of  first  circumnavigating  Africa. 

597.*  Jerusalem  captured  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  carries  away  the 
principal  inhabitants. 

595.  The  Delphic  Games  in  Greece.  See  "PYTHIAN  GAMES  AT 
DELPHI,"  i,  181. 

594.  Adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  Solon  at  Athens.  See  "  SO- 
LON'S EARLY  GREEK  LEGISLATION,"  i,  203. 

586.*  Nebuchadnezzar  captures  and  destroys  Jerusalem ;  puts  an  end 
to  the  kingdom  of  Judah.  The  Babylonish  captivity. 

570.*  Egypt  attacked  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  who  dethrones  Hophra 
(Apries) ;  he  places  Amasis  on  the  throne. 

560.  Tyranny  of  Pisistratus  at  Athens.  The  Grecian  poor  were  still 
getting  poorer,  notwithstanding  Solon's  legislation;  they  clamored  for 
relief,  placed  Pisistratus  at  their  head,  and  passed  a  decree  allowing  him 
to  have  a  bodyguard  of  fifty  men  armed  with  clubs.  Pisistratus  then 
threw  off  all  disguise  and  established  himself  in  the  Acropolis  as  tyrant  of 
Athens. 

550.*  Cyrus,  at  the  head  of  the  Persians,  destroys  the  Median  mon- 
archy. See  "  CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT,"  i,  250. 

550.*  "  RISE  OF  CONFUCIUS,  THE  CHINESE  SAGE."    See  i,  270. 

546.  Crcesus,  King  of  Lydia,  overthrown  by  Cyrus.  See  "  CONQUESTS 
OF  CYRUS  THE  GREAT,"  i,  250. 

540.*  Calimachus  invents  the  Corinthian  order  of  architecture. 

*  Date  uncertain. 


CHRONOLOGY   OF  UNIVERSAL  HISTORY     377 

538.  Conquest  of  Babylon  by  Cyrus.  See  "  CONQUESTS  OF  CYRUS 
THE  GREAT,"  i,  250. 

529.  Death  of  Cyrus :  Cambyses  succeeds  him  on  the  throne  of  Persia. 

527.  Hippias  and  Hipparchus  succeed  their  father,  Pisistratus,  at  Ath- 
ens, in  the  government  of  that  city. 

525  (527).  Conquest  of  Egypt  by  Cambyses,  King  of  Persia.  He  com- 
pletely subdued  it,  and,  after  an  attempted  rising,  crushed  Egypt  with 
merciless  severity.  Cambyses  treated  the  Egyptian  deities,  priests,  and 
temples  with  insult  and  contempt. 

^Eschylus,  Greek  tragic  poet,  born. 

522.  Pseudo-Smerdis  usurps  the  Persian  throne.  Cambyses  had  slain 
his  brother  Bardes,  whom  Herodotus  calls  Smerdis.  A  Magian,  Gau- 
mata  by  name,  resembling  Bardes  in  appearance,  impersonated  the  mur- 
dered prince.  A  revolution  ensued  and,  owing  to  the  death  of  Cambyses 
by  his  own  hand,  Pseudo-Smerdis  became  master  of  the  empire. 

521.  Darius  I,  by  defeating  Pseudo-Smerdis,  who  had  reigned  eight 
months,  ascends  the  Persian  throne. 

521-516.  The  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the 
Babylonians,  rebuilt. 

520.*  Birth  of  Pindar,  the  chief  lyric  poet  of  Greece.  He  was  in  the 
prime  of  life  when  Salamis  and  Thermopylae  were  fought.  His  poems 
have  as  groundwork  the  legends  which  form  the  Grecian  religious  litera- 
ture. 

516.*  Invasion  of  Scythia  by  Darius,  King  of  Persia,  who  seems  to 
have  acted  according  to  an  oriental  idea  of  right,  in  that  he  claimed  to 
punish  the  Scythians  for  an  invasion  of  Media  at  some  previous  time. 

514.  Hipparchus,  of  Athens,  assassinated  by  Harmodius  and  Aristo- 
giton. 

514.*  Birth  of  Themistocles,  a  famous  Athenian  commander  and  states- 
man. He  was  largely  instrumental  in  increasing  the  navy ;  induced  the 
Athenians  to  leave  Athens  for  Salamis  and  the  fleet,  and  brought  about 
the  victory  of  Salamis. 

510.  Hippias  expelled  from  Athens.  The  democratic  party  is  headed 
by  Clisthenes,  the  master-spirit  of  the  revolution  inaugurated  for  the 
overthrow  of  the  despotic  and  hated  sons  of  Pisistratus.  The  Athenian 
democracy  was  reorganized  by  Clisthenes. 

510.  The  Crotonians  destroy  Sybaris.  Croton  and  Sybaris  were  two 
ancient  Greek  cities  situated  on  the  Gulf  of  Tarentum,  Southern  Italy. 
Little  is  known  of  them  except  their  luxury,  fantastic  self-indulgence,  and 
extravagant  indolence,  for  which  qualities  their  names  remain  a  syno- 

nyme. 

510.  Expulsion  of  the  Tarquins  from  Rome.  Founding  of  the  Re- 
public; consulship  instituted.  See  "  ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUB- 
LIC," i,  300. 

506.*  The  Persians  subject  Macedonia,  and  extend  their  doi 

*  Date  uncertain. 


378     CHRONOLOGY  OF   UNIVERSAL  HISTORY 

over  Thrace.  The  Thracians  occupied  the  region  between  the  rivers 
Strymon  and  Danube.  They  were  more  Asiatic  than  European  in  char- 
acter and  religion. 

500*  (501,  502).  Rising  of  the  Greek  colonies  in  Ionia  against  the  Per- 
sians. Harpagus,  who  had  saved  Cyrus  in  his  infancy  from  his  grand- 
father, while  governor  of  Lydia  reduced  the  cities  of  the  coast.  Town 
after  town  submitted.  The  Tieans  abandoned  theirs,  retiring  to  Abdera 
in  Thrace ;  the  Phocians,  after  settling  in  Corsica,  whence  they  were 
driven  by  the  Carthaginians  and  Tyrrhenians,  went  to  Italy  and  later 
founded  Massalia  (Marseilles)  on  the  coast  of  Gaul.  Thus  the  Greek 
colonies  became  a  portion  of  the  Persian  empire.  The  insurrection  of 
the  lonians  continued  for  six  years,  the  fate  of  the  revolt  turning  at  last 
on  the  siege  of  Miletus. 

499*  (500).  Ionian  expedition  against  Sardis.  The  city  was  taken  and 
during  the  pillage  was  accidentally  burned.  The  Ionian  forces  were  ut- 
terly inadequate  to  hold  Sardis ;  and  their  return  was  not  effected  with- 
out a  serious  defeat  by  the  pursuing  army  of  Persians. 

497.*  The  Latins  are  defeated  by  the  Romans  at  Lake  Regillus. 

495.  Birth  of  Sophocles. 

494.  The  naval  battle  of  Lade,  in  which  the  Persians  defeat  the  Asi- 
atic Greeks.  Fall  of  Miletus. 

494  (492).  First  secession  of  the  plebeians  from  Rome.  Creation  of 
the  tribunes  of  the  people.  See  "ROME  ESTABLISHED  AS  A  REPUB- 
LIC," i,  300. 

493  (491)-  The  Latins  are  compelled  by  the  Romans  to  enter  into  a 
league  with  Rome,  which  is  threatened  by  the  Etruscans,  Volscians,  and 
the  ^Equians.  The  Latins  obtained  the  name  of  Roman  citizens ;  the 
title  disguised  a  real  subjection,  since  the  men  who  bore  it  had  the  ob- 
ligation of  citizens  without  the  rights. 

492.*  Mardonius  heads  the  first  Persian  expedition  against  Greece. 

490.  Battle  of  Marathon,  in  which  Darius'  Persian  host  is  over- 
whelmingly defeated  by  Miltiades.  See  "THE  BATTLE  OF  MARA- 
THON," i,  322. 

489.  Condemnation  and  death  of  Miltiades.  See  "  THE  BATTLE  OF 
MARATHON,"  i,  322. 

486.  Darius  Hystaspes,  of  Persia,  is'succeeded  on  the  throne  by  his 
son  Xerxes. 

League  of  Rome  with  the  Hernici. 

484.*  Birth  of  Herodotus,  the  "  Father  of  History." 

483.  Aristides,  one  of  the  ten  leaders  of  the  Greeks  at  Marathon,  os- 
tracized through  the  jealousy  of  Themistocles. 

480.  Second  Persian  invasion  of  Greece,  this  time  by  Xerxes.  De- 
fence of  Thermopylae  by  Leonidas.  See  "  DEFENCE  OF  THERMOPY- 
LAE," i,  354.  Naval  battle  of  Artemisium.  Athens  burned.  The  Persian 
fleet  vanquished  by  Themistocles  and  Eurybiades  at  Salamis.  Retreat 
of  Xerxes. 

*  Date  uncertain. 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  UNIVERSAL  HISTORY    379 

The  Carthaginians  attempt  the  conquest  of  the  Greek  cities  of  Sicily. 
Gelon,  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  defeats  their  army  at  Himera. 

Birth  of  Euripides,  the  celebrated  Greek  tragic  poet.* 

479-  The  Greeks,  under  the  command  of  Pausanias,  at  the  battle  of 
Platasa,  crush  the  Persian  army  under  the  lead  of  Mardonius.  Leoty- 
chides  and  Xanthippus  gain  a  simultaneous  victory  over  the  Persian  fleet 
at  Mycale.  End  of  the  Persian  invasion  of  Greece. 

478.  The  tyranny  of  Hieron,  brother  of  Gelon,  begins  at  Syracuse. 
He  was  noted  as  a  patron  of  literature. 

477.  The  predominance  in  Greece  passes  from  Sparta  to  Athens,  by 
the  formation  of  the  Confederacy  of  Delos. 

474.  Hieron,  of  Syracuse,  defeats  the  Etruscans  near  Cumse. 

471.  Themistocles  exiled  from  Athens,  the  Spartan  faction  having  plot- 
ted his  ruin,  alleging  his  complicity  with  the  enemy. 

Birth  of  Thucydides.* 

470  (471).  The  Publilian  law  passed  in  Rome;  the  plebeians  accorded 
the  right  of  initiating  legislation  in  their  assemblies.  See  "  ROME  ES- 
TABLISHED AS  A  REPUBLIC,"  i,  300. 

469.*  Birth  of  Socrates. 

468.*  Democracy  triumphs  in  the  cities  of  Sicily. 

466.  Naval  victory  of  the  Greeks,  under  Cimon,  over  the  Persians  at 
Eurymedon.  B.C.  470  Cimon  had  reduced  Eion,  after  a  gallant  defence 
by  Boges,  the  Persian  governor,  who,  rather  than  surrender,  cast  all  his 
gold  and  silver  into  the  river  Strymon,  raised  a  huge  pile  of  wood,  and 
on  it  placed  the  bodies  of  his  wives,  children,  and  slaves — all  of  whom  he 
had  slain — then,  having  set  fire  thereto,  he  flung  himself  into  the  flames 
tnd  perished. 

The  Revolt  of  Naxos  crushed  by  Cimon  during  the  expedition  against 
the  Persians. 

Fall  of  the  tyrants  at  Syracuse. 

465.  Murder  of  Xerxes  I,  by  Artabanus,  captain  of  his  guard;  acces- 
sion of  Artaxerxes  I  to  the  Persian  throne. 

464.  Sparta  destroyed  by  an  earthquake  which  shook  the  whole  of 
Laconia,  opened  great  chasms  in  the  ground,  rolled  down  huge  masses 
from  the  peaks  of  Taygetus,  and  threw  Sparta  into  a  heap  of  ruins. 
Not  more  than  five  houses  are  said  to  have  remained  standing.  Twenty 
thousand  persons  lost  their  lives  by  the  shock.  The  flower  of  the  Spar- 
tan youth  was  slain  by  the  overthrow  of  the  building  in  which  they  were 
exercising. 

464-455.  The  Messenian  helots  rise  against  the  Spartans,  taking  ad- 
vantage of  the  confusion  caused  by  the  earthquake.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  Messenian  war. 

463.  Mycens  is  reduced  by  the  Argives,  who  enslave  or  drive  away 
its  inhabitants. 

460.  Birth  of  Hippocrates,  in  the  island  of  Cos,  who  became  known 
as  the  "  Father  of  Medicine." 

*  Date  uncertain. 


380    CHRONOLOGY  OF  UNIVERSAL  HISTORY 

458.*  Jews  return  from  Babylonia  to  Jerusalem,  under  Ezra. 

Esther,  the  Jewess,  pleases  King  Ahasuerus  and  is  made  queen  in  place 
of  Vashti.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  Jewish  festival  of  Purim,  cele- 
brated on  the  I4th  and  i5th  of  the  month  Adar  (March). 

Beginning  of  the  Long  Walls  of  Athens ;  built  to  protect  the  com- 
munication of  the  city  with  its  port.  One,  four  miles  long,  ran  to  the  har- 
bor of  Phalerum,  and  others,  four  and  one-half  miles  long,  to  the  Pi- 
raeus. 

457.  Beginning  of  war  of  Corinth,  Sparta,  and  /Egina  with  Athens: 
Battle  of  Tanagra,  in  which  the  Athenians  were  defeated. 

456.  Athenian  victory  at  CEnophyta;  the  Boeotians  defeated  by  My- 
ronides,  who  also  secures  the  submission  of  Phocis  and  Locris. 

455.  End  of  the  third  Messenian  war. 

451.  Ion  of  Chios,  historian  and  tragedian,  exhibits  his  first  drama. 

*  Date  uncertain. 


END   OF   VOLUME  I 


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